There's a lot of sense in that but those who respond in such manner invariably get accused of being unsympathetic or worse.
I think a lot of people have lost (or at least have reduced) ability to pick up information in large tranches from reading books ... a lot of this can be laid at the door of the internet and the way we are now educated. You only have to look at the popularity of the 'Dummies guide to ..' series to see that small chunks of information with step by step guides is what a lot of people crave - and the internet is full of 'How to' videos and pictorials (not always good quality I regret to say) which also feed this need.
It's one of the reasons why the likes of Ted Hooper to many new beekeepers is of limited value and why I always recommend the likes of Bees at the Bottom of the Garden and the Haynes Manual of Beekeeping as starter books as they provide a fairly limited and targetted amount of information in an easily digested form.
I think that new beekeepers should be encouraged to read around the subject before they get bees but very often a polite and comprehensive answer to their question is a lead in to 'and read a book or two'. I think we are pretty good on here .. most new beekeepers get enough of us answering their posts to give them some thought for how they can develop and it's nice to see some of our former new beekeepers (who a little time ago were asking the same questions) reiterating the advice they were given a year or two ago. I think, as well, that there are enough contributors on here to offer guidance and encouragement that as long as we all do it once in a while it's hardly a chore pointing people in the right direction when very basic or broad questions are asked.
I dislike the sort of forum where people just link to a previous thread or suggest a book or manual to read ... people often come to forums for more than just advice ... confirmation, encouragement, sympathy, support, desperation are all part of the mix that are behind posts. I agree entirely that sometimes you feel like saying 'for goodness sake read a book !' ... but I'm afraid that an answer like that, in many, if not most, cases would probably result in one less new beekeeper or a discouraged one that may then head towards some of the less desirable youtube videos !
I'd like to think that we can continue to answer the basic questions in the way we seem to have always done .. like they have never been asked before.
