1) Understand that no matter who says it, that buying one particular hive, placing your bees on one type of comb, or buying a particular queen, will not keep you from having problems.
2) Everyone is an expert. Everyone has a blog. Everyone promotes their own ideology. You WILL probably be more confused after one year of beekeeping, and reading every blog, watching every bee video, and reading every forum.
3) There are really good beekeepers on forums. And some not so good. It is your job to find out which is which, since nobody else can point the difference out to you. Everyone can agree, but saying someone is wrong, is usually frowned upon. So understand that even bad advice gets it's due. Since everyone is P.C. nowadays, the next four items will prove this point.
4) All beekeeping is NOT local. Good advice is good advice. And bad advice is bad advice, no matter where you live or where the other beekeeper lives.
5) Understand and guard against those that say "What works for one person may not work for the next" in attempts to suggest that each and every beekeeper has valid points, or even knows what they are talking about. You do NOT need to try each and every thing out there in attempts to find what works and what does not work. These type comments usually come from those that know not what they say.
6) Do not think that "treatment free" or "hands off" is a good option for beekeeping. It usually just translates into dead hives. Strive to be "chemical free" and learn to be a better beekeeper by inspecting your hives in a less stressful manner. But never think that you as the beekeeper will be a detriment to your bees. You need to stay on top of things to learn, and help your bees when help is needed.
7) Guard against those that say "When confronted with a problem in the apiary and you do not know what to do, then do nothing". If you do not know what to do, then ask someone. If confronted with a problem, means you know something is wrong. Then do something. It usually should be a reason for action. Ask another beekeeper for assistance. Find out the answer to your questions, and find out how to deal with issues. Saying you lost a hive, while looking back and stating you knew there was a problem, but did nothing in hopes that they could deal with it, is not a good thing. Bees are very forgiving, even to poor beekeepers. There is not much you can do that the bees can not overcome, short of killing the queen, and even then they know what to do.