This is why my projects have always been willing to cut a deal with newbies to exchange stupid question credits for doc patches - i.e. "if you feel X is underdo

This is why my projects have always been willing to cut a deal with newbies to exchange stupid question credits for doc patches - i.e. "if you feel X is underdocumented, the core team will happily give you a personal tour of X provided you write up the results for the next guy to read" - which tends to help the incentive problem.