yea you do! haha! it sucks i know...but if you think about it, its forces you to read alot of thread so you gain alot of knowledge about flashing before you get to flash your phone...sort of like a safety thing for you incase you do serious damaged to yuor phone.
oh! and if your really think its necessary to EARN your privelages then you can alwasy buy them(look on the homepage, the link is somewhere there to buy privileages). good luck! and DO remember to back up your GDFS.