WHY don't they read first?

Sometimes user manuals are crap.

Sometimes they don't have a proper index or glossary.

Sometimes they are written in poorly translated English.

Sometimes they aren't detailed enough.

Sometimes they are over-simplified.

Sometimes they are overly technical.

When I answer a question that seems as basic to me as tying a shoe, I try to give my instructions/advice/answer in plain conversational English. Most user manuals barely even cover all the basic steps and often do so in language that most lay-persons may not understand. Some websites are so filled with ads and crap that the instructions, while simple, are hardly simple to follow.

When I do use Google for someone to find an answer, I try to show how I phrased my search to get the best results, so that in the future, the person can easily search for answers themselves.

And finally, sometimes the search results can be overwhelming and it's impossible for someone who has limited knowledge to choose from the pages upon pages of results when they appear much like gibberish. So, when I answer a question and link to a website, I generally try to point out if the site is a good source of information.

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Sometimes they may have lost the manual. As for your next question (why don't they google), here's my standard rant on that:

Please do not just tell people to search for stuff. If nobody on the Internet asked questions, then Google wouldn't have any search results to display. We're building more Google search results here on Yahoo Answers.

I participate in a lot of online forums. In every forum, there are a set of questions that get asked over, and over, and over again. Invariably, someone will give the answer, "You should try searching before you ask a question. This has already been answered." Here's the problem with that: Now, when people do search for the answer, they find a bunch of posts where the answer is "Try searching." Sometimes there is a link to a post that has the answer. Sometimes there's a dead link to an expired post or nonexistent web or wiki page that used to have the answer. Sometimes there's a link to other links that may or may not have the answer. Sometimes there's no link at all.

I propose this solution: Keep a personal archive of answers to commonly asked questions. I use Google Sites as my own personal wiki for this purpose. Then copy and paste those answers when you get asked that same question /again/. That way, when someone does search for the answer, he or she can find a post that says more than just "You should try searching for that answer." If we don't answer those same questions in full every time, then we're not only doing a disservice to those people who do search, but we're also forcing people out of the habit of searching first because they know that they're only going to find the "try searching" answer.