Thankfully I'm quite slow to get frustrated (even when this stuff isn't working right at all, it's less frustrating than my 'real work'), so I'm trying to learn what I can when I have time. Despite it all being trial and error, I successfully managed to get a fully working replacement animation in last night (I swapped the walk cycle for a 'silly walk') - and though my recent rigging model attempt wasn't 100% successful, I'm a lot closer to understanding how it works.
Anyway, I pretty much agree with what you're saying there, particularly regarding the 'simplified tutorial' and electricity example etc - I'd mentioned this in a message to Graf the other day :
"Ideally, we want an accurate and compatible skeleton and animations in as many 'open' or widely compatible formats as possible - so people with blender / maya / max / milkshape / gmax / mod tool / poser or whatever can all contribute something - ideally with a bit of guidance on files and formats, "best methods" and to set a few "good examples" first, so we don't end up with too many "the model is rigged, except for its left arm which sticks out" (as I had managed so far)
"
If between a few of us we can set up working skeletons, and converted animations in a number of programs / formats, with basic instructions on what formats to export in etc, it's a lot closer to the state which you describe, where we can give some good instructions to any new volunteers.
Obviously, if I have any great successes with getting things working, I'll send you the files across. I'm also looking at trying to put together a few diagrams of the bone structure and rigging etc - so if we can't find a way to import into Blender properly, we can probably recreate an accurate enough skeleton which is 100% compatible.