This so much
And it applies to basically every hobby
Everyone starts at the same point and we all learn in different ways and at different rates
Encouraging people will get them to pursue more into the hobby, shitting on them will just make them leave
Personally I've started dabbling into film photography because I think the process is neat. I still take my digital camera with me when I take my film camera though as I'd hate to miss the shot while I'm still learning film
I started with digital and I feel that it's been a great way to learn photography because unlike film the turn around for finding out if the pictures look bad is really fast