I was about to post something that we desperately need a FAQ. We are getting the same questions over and over (and always lacking the needed information. I searched all over for a FAQ and couldnt find one. I ended up here, go figure.

I really think the ubuntu homepage needs a very visible FAQ that is fed by the issues that keep coming up here on the forum. That faq ought to list the most commonly encountered problems (some examples below), with for each a couple of good links to relevant howto's on the forum and/or community docs that apply to the current release, as well as information on how to post on this forum (eg problems with grub should include bootinfo output, problems with wireless we need lspci and lsusb, mounting problems should include fdisk -l etc etc).

It doesnt have to be complicated or even a lot of work, certainly not exhaustive, but just listing the 20 or so most common questions and problems with links to generic solutions and some guidance on how to get further help on the forum would make this place so much more efficient and the whole experience for a new user a lot better, even if he is facing problems.

I realize the community documentation serves a similar function, but I see the FAQ as a way to point new users to this documentation and to streamline the process of getting "personalized" help here. The FAQ would not replace or duplicate the community doc, rather it would just point to it.

Here are some topics I would propose to list on such a faq (just 2 minutes of thinking and writing, to show the idea):

Installation
LiveCD or USB stick not booting
Upgrade failed / aborted
power management
Fan control, temperature monitorring
standby, hibernate resume problems
Videocard
incorrect resolution
black screen (no X)
Desktop effects, 3D acceleration
intel
ATI
nVidia
other (S3, SiS,..)
network connectivity
wireless
wired
3G
Firefox, flash, slow internet browsing
Accessing internal or external drives

etc.

Even if such a FAQ doesnt give all the answers, at the very least mentioning how to post output of fdisk -l, bootinfo etc would make it well worth the effort.