> there is definitely something in the culture where it's common for docs and how-tos and Q/A to tell you what to do, the steps/commands/etc, but to do little to help you build any kind of relevant domain model.

So very true and this is actually my biggest complaint with MSDN nowadays. It's so difficult to built a mental model of what's actually going on, which makes the documentatino difficult if your needs aren't exactly what the documentation is describing.

I don't know when this phenomenon started but it drives me batty.