I really appreciate this thread. Every point you made seems valid and it would be very helpful to newbies. I want to add that one of the reasons why newbies fail is because some of the rules in this forum are unwritten and the written ones are not in a single document. You would find these rules in different thread discussions. Locating these rules sometimes is very difficult and complicated. Most times these newbies are unaware of some rules which make them victims since ignorance of the law is not an excuse.
Good to understand your view about this. But to say and as I always say, there are no strong rules in this forum. Anyone who doesn't intend to cheat and who has good morales will be successful in this forum. Plagiarism is not acceptable and Plagiarism is the highest rule I have seen in the forum.
Saying that there is not single thread of rules, if you can be able to read this
Unofficial list of (official) Bitcointalk.org rules, guidelines, FAQ, you are good to go.
I think the 'strong rules' in this forum are the ones that are obvious and unspoken, like the natural laws of life. If you think that you are cheating your way in the system by plagiarizing or spamming, then you are putting yourself in a situation where your future is guaranteed- which is to be banned by the moderators.
Most of the problems of newbies stem from the fact that they visit this forum with only one thing in their minds- which is to earn profit. While this kind of mindset is not entirely negative and bad, what makes it worse for newbies is they fail to contribute to this forum which only leads to a number of spams.