I think the issue is that I went through the search and the docs before I had signed in / created the account. I created the account after I could not find sufficient information here or elsewhere.
I’d say add early to the welcome docs something like:
You will not be able to post into Help and Support until you reach Trust Level 1 (<- link this to details). Please consider creating an account or signing in prior to reading or searching further.
A better alternative, to me, would be to give clear instructions on error. "Access denied. You are currently at Trust Level 0. You need to be Trust Level 1 to post. Read access document (<- create and link) to learn more. I do not possess enough context on Discourse to know if that’s trivial or not.