You have to understand that I am mostly interested in catering to the older players who want to play 4on4.
There is nothing wrong with that at all.

4on4 isnt the only way to play this game. FFA and Duel are the main routes in to this game and LOTS have been done there.
The magic with all those new players that would come seem to be missing anyway tho.
There are tons of other stuff to be done but not by me.

Ok, I've been gone for a while, but anyway

The Foppa mixes is not the place to go if you're new to QW teamplay - the map of choice is DM3, and the mixers will expect you to have a thorough knowledge of this map if you join a game - like where the weapons, powerups, spawn points and teleports are, the timing of items, what to do when the enemy is keeping this or that area, where to go, etc etc. Speccing is good, but make sure you watch some clan demos too, the playstyle can be very different.

A lot of high-level players are free with advice, tips and tactics - questions in #qwrookie will get answers. You can use the Quakenet Webchat if you don't want to install an IRC client. In #qwrookie you will get op status, meaning you can employ the .qw command to find players for your mix. Something like . This can be done in-game as well

There seems to be some rookie 4on4 thing going on Sundays, I'd be there if I had the time - I love 4on4, but if I were to play Foppa mixes I would be a burden to my team. I'm no rookie, but my lack of 4on4 experience would spoil the games for the top dogs - who would have a 3on4 match, or worse. The Sunday rookie mixes sounds like a great idea. There's lots of 2on2 games going on every day, at least there used to be, and gathering four rookies for a match is a lot easier that eight. I recommend doing this if you get bored with FFA

Finally, there's some great youtube videos if you're interested in 4on4: DDKs excellent guides. QuakePhil's uploaded some demos showing the use of voice in QW

Good luck!