Beginners' / newbies' section or guidance?

Not really, but we do have a list of articles in the Cookbook Index that include quite a few articles related to using the forums.

Taras has provided the most important link above, but I would also include the following link to the docs for the companion app since most users use it:

https://companion.home-assistant.io/docs/getting_started/

Not that I’m aware of…

There are a number of YouTube channels that have done good beginners series. Unfortunately, since HA is under very active development those resource tend to become outdated in one way or another within a year. Mostly the differences are small and inconsequential, but occasionally videos or tutorials do contain severely broken automations. Because of the lack of economic incentives, creators rarely update or de-list old videos.

Any tutorial, or forum post for that matter, 2+ years old should be approached with the understanding that it is pretty likely something isn’t going to work as described.

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