Thanks, Burka! Unfortunately the "TLB Home" link is at the very bottom left of the forum page. I agree it would be better to have it more visible, maybe even at the top of the page. I'll put the URL link into my cut-and-paste answer for beginners!

As an aside, I will also try harder to read more carefully whether or not the questioner has already read the articles on the home page before posting my stock answer!

TomD, googling "backpacking" brings beginners to the home page. Googling "backpacking forums," though, brings them directly here. That's why we need a prominent link here on the forum page to those home page articles--both for beginners and those hoping to lighten their loads!

It might be worth seeing how many questions regularly asked on this forum can be answered by going to the articles. How many times, for instance, have we posted the recommendation that people buy their backpacks last, which is prominently stated in several of the articles? Not everyone will go there or read them, but a prominent notice directing them there will cut down on some of these elementary questions and half a dozen of us making essentially the same post ("buy your pack last").