Welcome DameonGrey,
from what I have experienced so far, the majority of all people able to help will gladly do so, the more since you know about []-brackets. For cases requiring some longer OOC-talk, better go to /tells, or /group, for not disturbing other people's roleplay.
I can remember I once received some tells with questions. Although i was helping, most of the time there was one annoyance: The asking people was complete stragers to me, they didn't introduce(i don't mean new PS introducing system) themselves and i felt like wtf.
It's always good to say something like. "Hi, i'm new into ... can you tell me ..."
Thats about how PS community is friendly to new playters. It is, unless they are noobs. Noob can be a person who behalves like he was center of the world and even though everyone answering his question don't think like that about themselves, the noob continues with his unchanged attitude.
I also wonder, is the in game guide so much scarry? I mean, it clearly say that if you say ooc its equal with a ban?
I just never did it. Maybe the guide needs another 1 or 2 sentences for explanation and that people aren't really /report ing you when you speak OOC, but they could if you act like a noob ? <-- thats the short version :]