The canonical sources are dense and difficult to understand unless you already grasp the language, IMO.

I can understand why people wanting to jump in and get things done prefer the more, er, apocryphal sources.

"are dense and difficult to understand"

Wasn't that the point of the rush, to scare off people not l33t enough to be on HN?

Really? The "Programming Rules" guide took me maybe ten minutes to go through as a newer Erlang programmer. I found the advice to be invaluable.