I agree. The guide is ostensibly written to explain to people how they should ask questions but a "newbie" is unlikely to read this 11,000 word epic. The real purpose of this guide is telling hackers how they should behave, promoting arrogant hacker culture. For example:
"If you can't be bothered to do that, we can't be bothered to pay attention. [If you ask for help, hackers] are likely to return logically impeccable but dismissive answers like “Yes, you can be helped” and “No, there is no help for you.” Claiming urgency is very likely to be counter-productive: most hackers will simply delete such messages as rude and selfish. There is an ancient and hallowed tradition: if you get a reply that reads “RTFM”... [If you screw up] you'll be told exactly how you screwed up, possibly with colourful asides. Hackers are in some ways a very ruthless meritocracy."
The guide also has "yikes" parts such as: "Seriously overusing smileys and color and fonts will make you come off like a giggly teenage girl, which is not generally a good idea unless you are more interested in sex than answers."
"If you can't be bothered to do that, we can't be bothered to pay attention. [If you ask for help, hackers] are likely to return logically impeccable but dismissive answers like “Yes, you can be helped” and “No, there is no help for you.” Claiming urgency is very likely to be counter-productive: most hackers will simply delete such messages as rude and selfish. There is an ancient and hallowed tradition: if you get a reply that reads “RTFM”... [If you screw up] you'll be told exactly how you screwed up, possibly with colourful asides. Hackers are in some ways a very ruthless meritocracy."
The guide also has "yikes" parts such as: "Seriously overusing smileys and color and fonts will make you come off like a giggly teenage girl, which is not generally a good idea unless you are more interested in sex than answers."