Firstly, I understand why, most blank profiles are bots, but it’s so frustrating trying to dm people, and interact in communities when you are mostly a lurker. Now I’m not a lurker here, but on other places it’s very annoying when you just want to talk to a specific person. Reddit is especially dreadful for new accounts or lurkers. Karma requirement’s are such bullshit.
Regarding DMs, my experience on other social medias is that people seem to take DMs as “their own home” - even if the door is either ajar or fully open, it’s impolite or even offending to enter without being invited first.
Regarding interacting with communities, some may see an unidentified profile as someone’s alt or, as mentioned by you, a bot, and other than making well founded points, I don’t see much that could be done to mitigate mistrust towards blank profiles.
And regarding Reddit specifically, I don’t know if it’s a flawed design, a flawed and long-going moderation, the platform being parasited by problematic users and external groups, or a mix of the 3, but even marginally big communities and even before Spez’s stunts, most communities I’ve seen there are a test on patience and composure.