I hope it doesn't offend those of you who have put your time and resources into the documentation for AH that we still say a comprehensive manual would be a good thing. I really appreciate all the work that's been done so for far and have found it very helpful.
However, I grew up with flight sims that had manuals, and I loved to read them, most especially Microsoft Flight Simulator and Falcon 3. Heck, as a kid I even liked to read the dynamix manual for red baron. What makes a good manual for just about anything is that one person is responsible for the finished product; you can tell the difference between that and something that's an amalgamation from multiple people, added to at different times, and without a lot of editing. For example, murdr, the padlock view doesn't seem to be included on that page of the helpfile, but it is part of the viewing system.
I spent some time writing/editing manuals at a job I used to have and it is not easy, but the benefit of a finished product is that all of the information can be found from one, definitive source. You can read it cover to back and say "now I know."