My brain's hit brainstorming mode. Some of these ideas are very different from the existing scheme.
Use, abuse, ignore, or bounce off of, as you see fit.
First, what are the reasons for these rules?
To conserve resources.
To stop posts we don't like, and abuse of PMs and email through the site. These come from both bots and humans.
To encourage people to participate. Or is that pushing it? I have no problems with lurkers -- as far as I'm concerned, they're just as welcome as anyone else. Encouragement to participate should come from other members being welcoming -- frisking and all.
To weed out "dead" accounts.
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New members are those who haven't yet proven that they are not robots or spammers or other abusers.
Idea: new members get ten free posts -- enough to feel involved right away, but not enough to flood the place if they are abusers. Sometime after post five, admin decides if they're mechanical or human, and, if human, participating -- as in, actually reading what's here.
If they never use up their free posts, I see no danger in letting them lurk, so long as they're actually here every so often. Maybe visit every few weeks, even if they don't post.
Obvious abusers, of course, we don't have to wait before kicking them off. That includes PMing or emailing members, not just stuff posted on the boards.
Posts from new members get reviewed before posting. Yeah, sure. As if anyone has the time. And it might slow down their getting involved. Then again, other sites do just that, relying on a team of very efficient moderators.
Maybe new members' posts do go up immediately, but admin gets a tool to review just those posts, so it can be done quickly, and action taken if they're abusers.
New members must be active over time -- long enough that a human nasty would give up.
One or two posts a week for two months is better than 10 posts in one week and then nothing.
Is there a way to distinguish long-term lurkers from dead accounts? Emailing them and asking, "are you a lurker or dead?" would work, but do be careful about the tone.
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Also, several of us, myself included, are having problems balancing RL and online time. Any requirement to come here frequently or do lots of posts may subvert hard-won progress. Anything that feels even remotely like pressure to make a choice between keeping my posts up and the rest of my life will be fought against -- it's human nature.
Take a look at country constitutions -- they begin with the goals, and then get into how they'll meet them. Not that everyone agrees on all the goals, but it does explain why the rules are set in place.
Cheers,
Cricket
<who is going to mention Princess dancing during today's session in the word mines, honest>
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Between stimulus and response there is a space.
In that space is our power to choose our response.
In our response lies our growth and our freedom.
- Viktor E. Frankl
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Mallanox : "My mother was Irish and my father was an alien. I was an only child and I dress funny." 
