There is a command you can use that will ask a couple of questions and create a plugin skeleton. There’s a topic describing it, and I posted several times in that topic. I can’t find it here. I can’t find it on Beginner's guide to developing Discourse Themes. But, really, I can’t find it anywhere.
Maybe GitHub - discourse/discourse-plugin-skeleton: Template for Discourse plugins could have a readme that said how to run that command (but then it would have to erase all of that when it created the skeleton plugin–a chicken egg problem, to be sure).
Theme Developer Quick Reference Guide does link to the theme creator, so that one’s answered.
EDIT: Found it!! Automating Discourse Plugin Setup with `create-discourse-plugin` gem
Ooops. Sorry. 
I guess user training is the answer. I’ll try to notice. But also, a theme component that replaced reply with reply-as-linked-topic might be a good idea.
But anyway, please add said link (or just mention the rake task?) here and delete this.