Personally, I don't think it's too much to expect newcomers to take a few minutes after enrolling to walk through a forum's stickies as they are more often than not an invaluable place to start as many of the common questions are answered all in one place. The BA forum's Ultimate BA Guide springs to mind as being one example.

I will have to plead guilty to not welcoming newcomers at times and in places in the past but resolved a while back to exhibit a kinder, gentler attitude to recent arrivals to these online shores.