It sure is, and I understand you want Discourse’s interface to go easy on new users in some extent if you think they need it.
However, since you’re new to Discourse, I’d suggest you make a list of every feature you want to hide for new users. Some features may be too useful to be hidden, like, as Jammy said, the timeline which is a very important part of Discourse and definitively a core feature regarding the navigation through topics.
When you have a list of things you’d like to hide, you can share it here to get opinions about how useful a feature is regarding the use of the forum. 