This is what screen reader users hear when reading past the help icon when posting a new discussion topic: "Read carefully, Write carefully, Ask good questions, How to write text and Use emoticons."

This was often interpreted as paternalistic advice, and never understood as a help icon. Other help icons on that page are much better; e.g., "Help with About formatting text (new window)."

Why it matters

Verbosity is one of the prime enemies of screen reader users; anything that sounds like it might not be directly related to the task at hand is usually skipped. Labels starting with "Help" were more likely to attract attention and less likely to be frustrating.
Possible solution

Every help icon's ALT attribute should being with, "Help with" and follow with the shortest possible description of help content. "(New window)" isn't necessary for most screen reader users, but is very helpful for vision-impaired users, where the popup may appear in an area of the screen they cannot see.