It didn't used to be this way. Sub-reddits started getting super enforcey over their own arbitrary rules to be the 'better' sub-reddit.
So now a ton of them have karma/account age restrictions. Only the Karma system was meant to be used for "Yes, this person is on topic" or "No, this person is trolling/off topic" - instead it slowly evolved in to "Agree" and "Disagree", so it's a hive minded echo chamber - that if you don't play along, you don't get to play at all.
Seems like it would be better if they eliminated the downvotes and relied on upvotes and strict moderation. ---