I noticed that I can't answer protected questions. I don't want to actually, but it says: >![Enter image description here][1] It was [FAQ for Stack Exchange sites](http://meta.stackexchange.com/questions/7931/faq-for-stack-exchange-sites), but I also didn't have an ability to answer other protected questions. I earned 270 reputation points + 100 reputation point bonus. Then I [offered](http://meta.stackexchange.com/questions/231060/increase-reputation-required-to-add-k-in-se-app) 350 reputation points as a bounty. Then I earned 59 reputation points. Today I started another bounty (50 reputation points), etc – I offered 4 bounties with total 500 rep. Despite the fact I started from the association bonus, I must have an ability to answer protected questions, as I earned reputation points here. But offered them as bounties. ![enter image description here][2] <hr> I now have enough reputation points, but I would like it to be fixed, because I like offering bounties very much. I would like system to check for my bounties when it checks if I can answer protected question. [1]: https://i.sstatic.net/zOI7e.png [2]: https://i.sstatic.net/v0w27.png