So, what do ya'll think? Too much? Waste of time? Nice thought? Perhaps a reality?

Welcome to the monastery, koolgirl (just in case I didn't say that already :-)

Jokes aside - all of the above. The monastery is open from all sides, each and every information for a newcomer is just a click away, so it seems it would make little sense to concentrate that in a welcome node. Then there are so many corners, fantastic nodes, wonderful code examples lurking in forgotten corners that is is impossible to list them there either, and it is great fun discovering them.

Pointing out monks willing to help newcomers is a good idea; but then, I guess that would be more or less all of the active monks.

On the other hand, the "Information" Nodelet with PM FAQ, Tutorials etc is by default way down the page, and a short summary of the most important pages for beginners, together with some welcome words and a bit of etiquette (a.k.a How Not To Annoy Regulars) is a sensible idea, ++ for that.

As you can see I've not yet made up my mind completely, but I probably support the idea ;)