-It probably wasn't clear, but in the original post I was thinking about static tutorials, like a page out of a how-to-draw-book, not videos. And program usage tutorials are a whole 'nother thing entirely...
-If the focus is on method, wouldn't that make it MORE important to explain why you're doing things? Even if it's something as short and simple as "use __ to add a glow effect to highlights"? Rather than just going 'burn, dodge, multiply'...other jargon...
It's just a personal preference, sure...but I think it makes a huge difference when trying to teach anything to the general public. It's hard to memorize a list of steps, but it gets easier when you know the reason why each step is included.
I know the feeling...which is why, when I finally get desperate enough to turn to a tutorial, it annoys the hell out of me when they're not even very helpful...
Most of the time though, when I look at them, it's just for fun. Like this morning I was looking at a great tutorial for drawing wood grain. Will I ever need to draw any wood anytime soon? Who knows?? But if nothing else, I learned something today~