Error when replying to threads

[Berminator]

I just joined a couple days go so please excuse the noob question. Any time I try to reply to a thread it gives me the following error message:

***
Berminator, you do not have permission to access this page. This could be due to one of several reasons:

1. You are not a current Pledge Member; or
2. Your user account may not have sufficient privileges to access this page. Are you trying to edit someone else's post, access administrative features or some other privileged system; or
3. If you are trying to post, the administrator may have disabled your account, or it may be awaiting activation.
***

Do I need to become a pledge member? What is that and how do you do that?