Would there be anyway to have the hints showing in a connected terminal in a new window?
So on starting IEx it might say something like:
Would you like us to show you hints in a new window? Y for yes or N for no
If they say yes a new window would open and then every time an event occurs that triggers a hint it would show in that new window.
I think this could prevent any confusion arising from information overload. I am not sure about anyone else but I know that when I first started out things like Vim put me off because there was too much going on/to keep track off. This would also prevent interference with workflow and would make it more likely for experienced devs to turn this on (which will in turn make it more likely to get feedback/contributions).
With regards to hints themselves, if able to do them in a separate linked window like this - I say go to town 
and show a hint for every new item that is encountered:.
Hey! You just used a List. Did you know Lists in Elixir are linked-lists and have a head and a tail…
