According to recent recearch, 56% of 2017 ICOs fail. And you know what? That's OK. 90% of startups fail but the rest grow so high that they compensate venture investors 90% loss and provide very high profits.
So the basic rules with ICOs are very simple:
1. Do the research before you invest
2. Diversify, diversify, diversify
3. Ignore news and HODL
I agree specially the newbie they need to know this three basic steps to have a knowledge on what they are need to know before going on something that is new for them, and ignoring the news is the best idea to avoid panicking and sell their coins in just a lower price so that the price of the continue will continue to become higher.