Hi,
I don't think man pages suck, it's just that people seem to expect things of them that they are generally
not intended to provide. If you think of them as a terse reference, not a howto or tutorial, then they will serve you better. If you want howtos or references you may be better looking elsewhere.
The rute book is a good place to start. Regarding groups and users see:
http://rute.2038bug.com/node14.html.gz
HTH,
Evo2.