This suggestions conflicts with the advice of the Welcome Thread, which says:
However, it can feel really irritating to get downvoted, especially if one doesn’t know why. It happens to all of us sometimes, and it’s perfectly acceptable to ask for an explanation. (Sometimes it’s the unwritten LW etiquette; we have different norms than other forums.)
It depends a bit on why the original post was downvoted. Asking for explanation when the problem is obvious, or on a forbidden topic tends not to get back to neutral.
This suggestions conflicts with the advice of the Welcome Thread, which says:
And yet I persistently see requests for explanations downvoted. The advice of the welcome thread does not actually correspond to downvoting behavior.
If the advice of the welcome thread doesn’t match the actual LW norms, we should change either the welcome thread or the norms.
Do the requests remain downvoted? In my experience, they may be downvoted for a while, but then get voted back up.
It depends a bit on why the original post was downvoted. Asking for explanation when the problem is obvious, or on a forbidden topic tends not to get back to neutral.
Obvious to regular users != obvious to new user
Monkeymind knew why he was being downvoted.
Edit: But, I agree with your point that many community norms that will get one downvoted are not accessible to new members.
The Welcome Thread doesn’t set official policy.