From my recollection, when I started taking pictures, I couldn't get enough material to read on the subject, whether in the form of books or magazines. Going back 25 years (and a bit), there wasn't an internet and it was a case of learn by reading, join a photography club, or if you had a very accommodating photography shop proprietor, you could pump them for info.
Today, everything is one tap and somewhere like TPF contains an amorphous mass of people with a like interest and probably vastly more experience than our occassionally maligned 'newbie''.
A lot of the time, the people mentioned don't know what question they should be asking, so how can they turn up decent information in a search, especially where the internet can throw up just as much bad info as good. Where better then, than to drop on here and ask the immortal question: Canon or Nikon (all the while bearing the good/bad info comment in mind)?
I can't see the comment here, but someone recently made a point about reading up on books on general photographic techniques as opposed specifically digital ones. That seems a sensible tack to me.
Hang on, what have I said so far, need a recap...
We live in an age where many suffer from information overload, why would we expect the field of photography be any different? Maybe all our our newbie wants is someone to help them make sense of it - once upon a time the sources of information were more limited and the delivery mechanism was subject to more validation than much of what we see now. Perhaps good information is actually harder to find now than it used to be?
PS. I reserve the right to ask dumb questions whenever the need arises...
PPS. Delete approx 15% ramble factor from the above - you chose which bits...
But I think Garbz is right, reading the manual does help a lot. If ppl read it more often, less of those threads that can be answered in the manual.
