A help button could be useful either way
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We had this button on Stack Overflow and the analytics / data showed that almost nobody used it. That does not mean it should not exist, of course, but the general rule is that the type of people you would want to use this button, pretty much never do.
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Stack Overflow seems way more aggressive these days for brand new users and audience for Discourse is way wider so this kind of approach may be applicable
I think there is definite value in giving some extra tips for tl0/tl1 that are getting accustomed and also for more advanced users that are looking for secret magic.
I guess what I want a little is a help mode that goes away after a bit
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To be fair, there is a plugin that sort of permits this already and I don’t think a lot of people use it…
https://github.com/cpradio/discourse-plugin-composer-help-button
Granted, it isn’t right aligned, but it gives people a way to add customize help for the format bar should they deem that a necessity.
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Also, this was written before the new outlet (that Canned Replies uses) to display help text at. So it could be improved to use that same location instead of a modal now (if someone has the time PR welcome).
Right-aligning the button might require a new outlet or a new option to the toolbar component (PR welcome for that too).
But those would be the only necessary improvements to make it meet the UI mock ups above.
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None of that is new; I worked with Ben to add that in 2010/2011. See proof here…
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Yeah it fealt eerily familiar. I guess I think there is merit for a help mode that kicks out once you posted a bit
But sure this can be plugin territory, agree that for seasoned users a help button is largely noise
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For what it’s worth, I appreciate the comfort of being able to find some kind of formatting help, even if it’s rarely used.
It’s good for bootstrapping new users unfamiliar with markdown (like communities coming from more bb related forms, or with wysiwyg editors), and a nice reminder for when I just can’t figure out how how to do something simple like code formatting, and have been deep in JIRA or Sharepoint or something with vastly different formatting options.
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My opinion on this:
Inexpirenced people don’t really know how to use the markdown features.
A markdown help would make it easier for novice users to learn markdown. Other users have posted things for markdown help. I believe it would be useful to have this feature, as it would help with ease of access
As an alternative, we can also add more markdown buttons on the top for novices. However, the problem with that is that it makes the layout more confusing.
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I think it would be a great idea to add this section (toolbar) to New User Tips too as Jeff mentioned above. 
With a little description and a configurable link inside. It can go to an own topic about formatting like Discourse New User Guide
Or can go directly to Markdown Help Markdown Reference
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Users see:
Type here. Use Markdown, BBCode, or HTML to format.
OK, they use Markdown, BBCode, or HTML, but find some things don’t work,
and there are other things other users use that work but they didn’t
know about.
So there are different versions of Markdown, BBCode, or HTML.
So in Help, Discourse should say what versions.
Or instead of that, simply have the full list of markup items that
Discourse uses.
Or at least have a link to where in the source code it is.
But normal users couldn’t understand that source code,
So it still would be better to have a full list, or call it cheatsheat,
of Discourse implemented markup operators.
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