New install can’t upload – every time!

I’ve installed WordPress three times in the last couple of weeks.

Each time, the installation went smoothly, until I tried to upload an image.

Each time the image couldn’t be uploaded, because WordPress couldn’t write to wp-content/uploads or create folders in it. I had to get into FTP and mess with permissions and in once case, I had to SSH in and remove the folder (which appeared to have the right permissions) then recreate it and re-set the permissions.

I wasn’t installing on the same server, there were three different servers, on slicehost, nearlyfreespeech and a university’s stock Red Hat Linux server.

This issue isn’t addressed at all in the installation instructions, or the Common Installation Problems section either. How come?

Am I just very, very unlucky, in that a simple WordPress install on three different servers had exactly the same problem? It’s kind of hard to believe.

And if it is a common problem, why is it not covered in the documentation?