Okay, so.

Runs don't come about everyday with good reason, and that means that if you don't know SR4(A?) already, you learn as you go.

This means that runs take even longer, as newbies, myself included, stumble over the mechanics.
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Thus my suggestion:

Leverage the medium. Do logged run-throughs of various mechanics in detail, with people attending the run-throughs as test dummies, etc etc. They can then be posted to a special forum, which I'll dub "The Training Ground" for now.

These can be run by anybody. but should ideally be run by people who already know the system best.

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Why suggest this? Two quick reasons:

1. Anything that can help make a run go faster is probably worth the investment.
2. For a lot of people, I suspect this is really their only time playing SR4, or 4a.

Maybe it'll work. Maybe it won't.

Or people could just buy and read the books....

-Hades

I have the books. There's still stuff that's confusing.

It's not a bad idea. Reading and re-reading the rules isn't a substitute for actually combining all the modifiers on the fly. This sounds like good hands-on practice. It will be more fun than hanging out in the OOC room, waiting for something to happen. A short round of boxing or cybercombat could be a quick-hit session, keeping things fun and requiring less of a time commitment than a plot.

Best way to learn the rules, run something. By the seat of your pants. Let people know you're learning it and still getting used to it. Dive in!

The system as it is cannot cover everything, and it really won't. So you're going to have to make judgement calls at one point or another.

And if you screw up? Live and learn, run with it and try your best not to make the same mistake.

This is entirely the opinion of me, myself, and I.