[eluser]Chris Newton[/eluser]
In DH's defense, Dreamhost isn't really complicated, at least not any more so than any other shared host. The question above isn't really about Dreamhost being complicated.. seems to be just a question about HTACCESS... which doesn't have much to do with DH.
That being said, getting around some of the security stuff put in place by ANY shared host, is usually simple... you don't. With DH, it's not always simple, but it's possible.