>>1 Yeah I know what you mean, someone posted a topic a good while back in the sports board as it also classes as one,
I have been on an off learning go, got a board and some nice stones, :D
>>2 try these three sites first one is good to getting the basics, the second one you can play other people and do Go Puzzles, the last one I have not used in a while which you can mainly play other people play bots and had a tracked system which you could see your progression I,e ranking system.
http://www.playgo.to/iwtg/en/
https://online-go.com/puzzles
I used this once but couldn't get it working again,
http://www.gokgs.com/help/