My 2 cents
This OP had two concerns, one being the lack of response, and the other being the original issue itself.
I would have to agree that if I didn't have any experience in web development I would probably find myself lost at first. I still get lost! There is a hazy line between support and training, and I think we are ini that area now.
For example, Adobe doesn't provide this sort of training for free to its users, but makes plenty of resources available, and so does WA. But there are loads of 3rd party resources available for Adobe products, but no so much for WA. But I do agree that WA is obliged to provide additional training because of how the products are marketed, as stated before.
Getting Started Guides, Solution Recipes and tutorial videos are a form of training - It's by working through these that you see how the products work, their intended use and ultimately, provide the solution that you need for your specific project. Yet, many, if not most do require at least some knowledge of something else, which is not always clear.
The issue of developing a dynamic website is close to my heart, because when I first started working as a developer, I had no idea where to start and I was hired on the understanding that I could learn as I went. That was ten years ago, and there was much less information out there than there is now. The glut of information, however, may actually be a disadvantage. But what got me through was the user community - very helpful and tolerant and always ready to help.
My suggestion would be for we users to become more involved in these forums. This doesn't mean that it's our responsibility to do things that WA is obligated to do, but discussions, questions, answers, participation helps everyone. I for one, enjoy helping where I can, I find it rewarding, and I'm not alone. I'm not alone in this, and, I'm a far cry away from knowing everything and still seek help where I can find it.
The problem I ran into in these forums is that they seem to be mainly intended for a support forum and are mainly used that way. I do see members trying to help out often, but mostly the questions are answered by WA. Some companies provide forums, but their support people stay out of it altogether. I once tried to help answer a question here, but was admonished by the user to stay out it, he only wanted WA feedback.
So if the forums are supposed to be for support only, then maybe their can be a section for users helping users, something like that? Or, maybe, restructure the current categories and encourage more participation by everyone, if WA feel it would be appropriate and wouldn't be counter productive. This may be a good time to revisit the forum structure anyway as sometimes I don't know which one to post a question in as the way the extensions are being packaged.
So that's my suggestion - take it, leave it - I'll be OK either way!
