iPeace

It's always difficult to keep a message simple (accessible for a novice) without leaving out (those which initiates feel are) significant parts of the story, especially if you're trying to provide a "starting point" from which to progress in a successful and enjoyable manner. As such, you're trying to give a lecture to a room full of people who know next to nothing on the subject - except for one person in the crowd who possibly knows more about it than you do, and has his/her own opinions on what you're trying to say (it never fails...). Only here on this forum, it's quite a few people...

You're certainly not the only one who recommends a small refractor to start out with - as opposed to something which requires cooling and collimation; neither are you the only one to advise not to start out with astrophotography too soon. Plenty of experienced astronomers advise against using GOTO or an EQ mount when just starting out. Keeping things as simple as responsibly possible (yes, GOTO is meant to be simple, but it doesn't always work out that way in practice) for a newbie is a pretty reliable method; each individual will progress at their own pace and learn soon enough that there's also "the other side" of everything they were previously advised. Having something you can just take out, set down (unless, of course, you're using a decent pair of binos - without a mount), point at the sky and look through should get you hooked - if that doesn't, nothing will. Collimation,  polar alignment, solar observing and whatever magic stuff our imaging friends do will come along in due course; no Beginner's Guide will ever stop that from happening, no matter how many opinions it has left out.

And anyone - even a beginner - reading your Guide on this forum will not fail to be aware there's a bit more to it than what you've written .

The views of those who have commented on your work so far are perfectly valid, of course.

I appreciate your approach to this.

Getting old certainly beats the alternative