[Saralonde]

Welcome to DPS!
No, you are not in "trouble". And we are very lenient with new posters until they get the hang of things.
The reason for the limited posting rules in "Share Your Shots" and "Critique" were because some people put up so many at one time, other posters threads were falling to the second, third or fourth pages without having a chance to be seen. It seems complicated the first time you read them, but if you follow them once, you should have no trouble any other time.
The "Win a Nikon" contest was last spring. You won by posting throughout the forum in all categories, not just "Share Your Shots" or "Critique". Unfortunately the place you read about it must have been reporting old information it had not bothered to update.