I really hate this answer. Why? Because it's a cop out and probably ends up hindering more players than it helps.

In theory, this should work great- with people able to learn rudimentary, then more advanced prepping by learning to do it in game with veteran players.

In practice hardly anyone discusses preps save for wand-users on the hunt for their coveted sleeks. Asking anyone (even good-aligned allies) in game usually gets a very vague answer, an outright fabrication ("I don't know where X comes from. I took it from some PC's corpse") or, worst of all, the player makes note of your lack of knowledge and capitalizes on it later.

In my experience a lot of PK-oriented players will avoid talking about preps deliberately to maintain an advantage. Another reason is to avoid ending up with the item in question getting nerfed, moved or guarded.

Why not just admit that CF has a culture of secrecy to new players? The only answers to the question "where do I get X" that actually have any value are:

Make an explore character and find it yourself.

Get an OOC buddy to show/tell you.