Of course they are. Any significantly tasked sysadmin probably uses them on a daily basis and as *nix systems programmer I'll find myself using manpage referenc

Of course they are. Any significantly tasked sysadmin probably uses them on a daily basis and as *nix systems programmer I'll find myself using manpage reference when I jump into something that I haven't used for awhile. Many situations they are much more convenient and accessible than online or html docs.