I agree that the current situation isn't very newbie friendly. Part of it is caused the fragmentation and inconsistencies of the various websites, which is what Quim is working on.

Another factor is the neglection of the ITT Wiki. But you won't solve this by creating yet another one. The main problem is how to keep the content up to date and well organized. And I would rather have one well kept wiki with some kind of difficulty rating for how-tos. Maybe it's time for better wiki software so it's easier (and more fun) to maintain/tag/organize/search for content?

I think the idea of article style how tos is great. Newbies won't search for something in the wiki if they don't know that you can do something in the first place. How about add some video tutorials?

I don't agree there is much unfriendlyness to newbie generally here. Compared to other forums I think it's actually quite civilized and friendly. And asking people to search and ask proper questions is just basic forum etiquette. The problem as I see it is that newbies wll read about things like running Debian or cloning to SD without realizing that those things are actually advanced hacks.