Have you guys considered having a dedicated newbie forum? (or a 'check here first kinda resource?) I'm quite aware that some of the questions I've been asking recently have been about 'laser basics' and have been smattered around the various forums, and I'm sure may have been asked before (although couldn't find for the life of me when searching!)
Having a forum dedicated to those sorts of things means that you are able to direct new people joining to read through the newbie forum posts and get 'up to speed' and the rest of the forums don't get junked up with all the annoying repetitive posts.
I moderate a DIY pro audio site (www.speakerplans.com/forum in case you're interested!) where we did that not long back and its proved very successful, not only for the new members but also the existing inhabitants. Some stickies or a wikki contain the really common questions and people can add new topics as required.
Anyway, food for thought....