There needs to be some control over spam, so the rule is necessary, despite creating a minor impediment for newbies. In the majority of the recent threads by newbies seeking help, most responses are friendly and encouraging and most of the OPs do try for 10 useful posts. Also, if the newbie has a pic accessible to the web, another user can and usually does link to it for the rest of us.
Also, I believe that new users can upload their pictures to the Gallery before they satisfy the 10 post requirement. True? If so, then there is no real issue, right?
Some of the other forum sites I belong to have much more onerous rules for new visitors.
Anyhow, thanks for posting this concern. We all need to be welcoming to new users.