I stumbled on an obscure question years ago on one of the sub exchange sites that dovetailed precisely with something I'd been working on for years. All the proposed answers were subpar so it was like I was born for this particular question. After cracking my knuckles and preparing to reply I realized I couldn't. I didn't have enough karma or whatever. And that was the end of that.

It doesn't sound right.

I've just checked: you don't even need an account to post an answer.

And the entire stated purpose of SO was not to be like expertsexchange…

Oh God I had forgotten about expertsexchange

Scroll down for the answer!

Same for me. I have an account with zero karma on it. When I created it I was a total programming novice fresh out of uni and could not really contribute. As time went on, I could definitely have started contributing, but not having any karma became too high a barrier of entry - I'm using it during my work hours, I can't just spend endless time grinding.