Hey Jayman, those links didn't work
But, yes, there are definitely newbie friendly areas on Netpond as well as on sme of the other boards. But, you've been around long enough to know that netpond was the original home of the sharks in this biz (at least the ones that post) and that some of them still hang around waiting to get a taste of newbie flesh.
Netpond is probably (imho) one of the safest of the BIG boards for newbies.
In my original post, I did not intend to denigrate any of the boards (mentioned or unmentioned). All of the boards have their purpose and some are definitely more newbie friendly than others.