I am with you. I guess that the point I was and am trying to make is that anything that helps make the game more enjoyable for new and growing players is a good thing in my eyes.
A lot of the stuff the Vellos has written about in his Trade thread are things that, in my opinion, a character born to a noble family would know and think of. Granting the player this information is a good thing in my eyes. Reading that thread has opened my eyes to all kinds of possibilities. Things I want to explore and do. It has better armed me. It has, however, done nothing to make me good at it. I am certain that if I attempted to use any of those tactics against Vellos or other experienced players I would suffer for it.
