Why can't I participate on bitcointalk.org? I just created an account and spend a frustrating hour reading help menus and trying to figure out how to post or reply to posts.

None of the buttons -- New Topic, Reply, Quote -- seem to be showing up.  Is there a verification step that I skipped?

I'm logged it.  I get the "hello [user]" message on top.
You should first make some posts on the Newbies forum. This post explains the restrictions.


  Newbie Restrictions You can only post in the Newbie and Local
  sub-forums till you have 5 posts and at least 4 hours on the forum. 
  The other two restrictions are you need 1 post to be able to send a PM
  and 10 posts to put a link in your sig.