+1 on the Stickifying of this thread.
As one of the younger (less than 21 years of age) hobbyists, what you said really resonated with me. I actually need to show my dad this thread (he thinks that goldfish can live in bowls and tangs can live in 29 gallon aquariums, and both can be "happy" because of his childhood). That being said, here's my 2 cents on your 5 points.
#1: okay, so maybe you do need more money than that required for a stamp collection. Do I need to be the son of Bill Gates to succeed at this though? No. With the proper research, some tanks can be made beautiful with very little money, for example, a 20 gallon softie reef. As long as things are kept in moderation (hardier corals, small fish bioload, etc.), and you do comparison shopping, then things don't have to be as expensive as "X User" 's 180 gallon SPS reef, complete with robot servant. Really, just doing research can help limit costs (i.e. Petco's $/gallon sale, buying quality equipment off of people retiring from the hobby, etc.).
#2: I'm a high school student. I'm also a member of multiple extracurricular activities, and do volunteer work. About half of my weekends and school holidays are perpetuated with school work. Yet, somehow, I'm still here, and advancing. You don't need to have multiple hours every day. At best, I can afford 1-2 hours of work on my tanks maybe 2x a week (not counting adding fish food). That's enough time to do tests, empty the skimmer cup, do a water change, and enjoy my fish/corals.
#3: My schoolmates made fun of me when I brought copies of FAMA, AFI, and fish breeding/care books to school. But really, this point is spot on. Without having the internet, and books to help, I would have given up this hobby due to failure years ago. However, I look at my tank, and sometimes find something so absolutely amazing and new, that I've never read about before. How am I supposed to know that the fluffy cotton ball things with spouts are pineapple sponges? No research that I've done has ever detailed what pineapple sponges are, nor vermetid snails. Heck, I even thought once that the Acetabularia algae growing on a snail shell was a parasite growing off of the snail! One of the good things about reefing (and live rock), is the vast amounts of what-is-that's that pop up.
#4: ohh, Dolores Umbridge quote right here: "Progress for the sake of Progress must be discouraged....let us prune practices that ought to be...prohibited!" (HP: OoTP) A lot of this hobby is no. However, once we have experience under our belt, don't we want to create progress, or hinder it? A better way would be to say "Don't start experimenting until after you have experience!" or something similar. After people get down the basics, then it's their turn to have at the virtual limelight, by doing things that are frowned upon (cough*Goniopora*cough)
#5: It's funny, how much emphasis I put on my fishes lives. When I put out the pond-vat-tub thing this summer, my dad wants to put in goldfish. Do I have room indoors for goldfish? No. His response? They'll die before winter. That maybe true. Maybe the fish will die before they reach adulthood/maximum size. But you new reefers out there, if you're reading, then make plans for your fish. It's saddening to see that tiny little hippo tang you bought for the 29 gallon, be cramped in its space due to you.
A lot of your points actually revolve around each other. Maybe you should work with somebody on creating an aquarium version of Hammurabi's Code, or something similar? Just basic stuff.
