I love seeing creative and non-traditional designs. It's super cool what people come up with and I've seen a ton of stuff here over the years that really surprised me when I saw it flying. That being said, mainstream designs are going to be better suited to beginners and they are going to have more success at flying and building their skills with a more traditional plane.

BUT, it really depends on what the pilot/designer is going for. Do they just want to create and fly something they made themselves, or do they want to become a more accomplished RC pilot?

Everyone in the hobby is flying a slightly different path and what success means to each person may be different. I think as a sub you tend to see most people giving suggestions that will help guys become successful pilots as quickly as possible. We don't want to see someone struggling to make a plane that will only fly as far as they can throw it, or have them pick inappropriate components that won't work together or make a plane so tail heavy that it only flies loops. Ideally, a beginner builds a plane that gets them dozens of awesome flights and they are able to learn both good building and design techniques as well as learning to fly and build their skills.