While I realize it wasn't your thought, If maemo.org is to become a premier destination for the new N900 buyer, I think that redesigning the maemo.org home page should be seriously considered. The SUSE page is a great design for a new user. A bit more detailed but still very usable is http://www.openoffice.org/.

Right now the home page is obviously that of a developer community (not that there's anything wrong with that). The "Get Help" button will probably be clicked by a new user more than anything other than the downloads but it doesn't drop them anywhere in particular, just at a new page with more links, none of which are explained (not to mention that the Talk Forums links sends them to the ITT home page which then sends them back to maemo.org if you click on Forums).

The advantage of redesigning the home page is that it will help "keep newbies at bay" to use a just slightly condescending thread title. It will also afford the community an opportunity to structure a n00b's learning. If they want help, dump them at the top of the new user wiki pages. If they can't find it there, tell them where you want them to go next, probably either the New User or Enquiry thread or the Users category in the wiki (the FAQ in its current state doesn't have enough Qs to be useful).