This reminds me somewhat of the Vector rollout, I've just today come across another example of why we need to upgrade newbies to Monobook once they start editing. Monobook has a rather useful "Email this user" option in the sidebar. I suspect Vector has something hidden away in a dropdown menu, but if so I couldn't immediately find it and I was expecting it to be there. If one on one advice is indeed the best way for some newbies to learn, them Email is probably one of the better ways for newbies to get feedback.
Just to "poke the bear" on this I put together http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:ErrantX/emailuser.js which adds an icon to user/user_talk pages the same as WikiLove - but to email users.
Feel free to use!
Tom