knowledge needed to help a newbie

Sounds like you need some sort of basic primer. The Bread Baker's Apprentice might be right up your alley. The first part of the book is a very basic text on making bread. It will answer most of your questions.

Some study and baking loaf after loaf of your whole meal/white bread is the best way for you to learn, IMHO. Soon some people who actually know what they're talking about will show up and answer some of your questions. Best of luck with your bread.

Wow, that's a lot of big questions.  I'm going to give summary answers here to each, which will hopefully give you enough info to dig deeper into each one individually.

1) Gluten is basically an a mesh of elastic proteins that develop in some foods.  Think of long, elastic strings that get tangled up.  Certain grains have more gluten than others.  The more you work them, the more tangled up and stronger of a mesh they create.  That's why you knead bread, you're developing that gluten into a dough.  Think about a pile of rubber bands, as you knead, they're getting tangled up and forming a mass.  Without kneading, they're separate, after purposely tangling them up, they create a matrix.  (by the way, this is all way oversimplified and not exactly scientifically accurate, but it works for explaining in a simple manner)  The reason you create this matrix is so that the yeast and the carbon dioxide it makes, gets trapped in little bubbles.  Those bubble stretch out and create the light texture you're looking for in bread.  Imagine chewing gum versus bubble gum.  If it's not stretchy, you can't form a bubble, it just breaks.  Whole wheat, as you mentioned, cuts through those elastic bands of the gluten.  Not all of them, and kneading can still be useful, but you don't get the same consistency.  That's not to say that no-knead is the only way to go with whole wheat, but when kneading whole wheat, you'll never get the same kind of texture that you will with a refined wheat flour.

2) Spelt is a whole different animal.  It has very low amounts of gluten, so it behaves very differently.  Gluten is what helps a dough keep it's shape (remember, it's elastic), so without it, spelt isn't going to be as springy.  I've got a no knead spelt sunflower recipe that is crazy simple, and I love it, but working with spelt takes some getting used to because it doesn't behave like wheat dough.

3)  During the resting portions of making bread, what you're actually doing it allowing the yeast to do their thing (ignoring things like autolyse).  Depending on which phase and what kind of yeast, that is a combination of it making more little yeasties and/or converting the sugars into carbon dioxide (i.e., causing the dough to rise).  The times given in recipes are guidelines, but there are a lot of variables.  You don't want to cut the yeast short on time if they haven't accomplished their task, but allowing them too much time can also have negative effects.  And since 2 hours for the person writing the recipe might be right, your yeast, in your kitchen, with your flour, at your temperature, could need a different amount of time.  The best way to determine this is by look and feel.  How much has it risen?  Twice it's previous volume?  Three times?  What does it feel like?  How should it feel?  I'd love to give you an answer, but different kinds of bread require different things.  Most wheat based breads you want to let double.  That means you need to find a way to determine that.  Some people use containers that they can easily measure.  Some do it by eye.  Some cut off a small amount of dough and put it into a shot glass they can easily measure.  Some do a poke test to see when it has proofed long enough, but again, what you're looking for varies depending on the kind of bread.

4) Okay, there's a lot here.  Is your dough too sticky?  Maybe.  Recipes give a general idea on how much flour and water to use, but it varies.  I live in a very dry climate, and I always have to use more water than the recipe calls for.  You might need less.  Or, maybe it needs to be kneaded longer (that will reduce the stickiness).  You mentioned a no knead bread; I don't have a ton of experience with them, but generally, the ones I have used are too wet to use in a banneton.  Does your recipe call for a banneton?  You asked if a sticky dough will always stick to a liner.  Well...that's about the most ambiguous question ever.  How sticky?  If it's like cake batter, then...yep!  That's too wet of a dough to use in a banneton.  It all depends.

5) Best way to clean a liner...depends on the condition.  Ideally, you don't want to wash it, but it depends on how bad it is.  You might not have another choice.  If you can, I'd avoid detergents.  Try to just brush/flake it off.  If that doesn't work, soak it in water for a few hours and then try a gentle brush under water to remove all of the dough.  Let air dry, repeat as necessary, and reflour when COMPLETELY dry.

6) More of less starter is more or less yeast.  The more yeast, the faster rise and the more starter flavor.  But, a lot of starters are 100% hydration, which might be too high.  That's why you add some starter into the dough and let it sit.  You're essentially making a larger, lower hydration starter.  The longer that takes, the more flavor it will impart.  It's a balancing act.

I admire your drive and willingness to jump right in, but as you're trying to figure things out, might I suggest slowing it down a bit.  Have you done much baking with instant yeasts?  If not, you might want to start there.  Either way, start off with what flour doughs (save the rye and spelt for later).  Whole wheat is okay, but keep the percentages low at first, that way you can start to get a feel for things.  If you know any bakers around you, have them walk you through a simple recipe so you can see what it's supposed to look and feel like, then reproduce it, and do it a few times.  

This is really more art than science, and until you get a feel for things to be able to build off of, you're just going to be shooting in the dark.

In addition to gleaning knowledge from bakers here, I recommend Hamelman's Bread.  It is comprehensive, extremely well written and easy to follow, and has dozens of spot-on recipes.  I'm not as enamored with Reinhart's Bread Baker's Apprentice because I find his explanations tortured and unnecessarily complex.  It has a lot to offer, though.  If I could have one book it would be Hamelman.  Also check out his instructional videos.

I will take a stab at a few of your questions.

1 .  Overkneading,   Malcolm Gladwell has a book,  David v Goliath - and he argues that for nearly everything, there is a yield curve, and that as you keep adding to something, the results improve, then there is a diminishing return, then the curve reverses and heads in the other direction.  So I don't know the why, but the point is you can overdo anything, and if you over do kneading, the dough and water will start to separate.  

2  Can't help on spelt, i mainly use 100% whole wheat.  I suggest you start with bread flour, it is much more forgiving.

3  Alton Brown has a great episode on yeast, and his explanation is that yeast are what causes bread to rise, and give it great flavor, but they aren't any good at moving.  When we first bulk ferment, the yeast feed on the food nearby and do their thing.  Once they have exhausted that food, they eventually die, so instead, we move them around - by degassing the dough, so they can get more food.  You can just do one rise, called straight dough, but the yeast won't get to work as long, so the flavor won't be as developed.

4 You could use cling film, but in general, the goal of the wicker proofing basket or cloth is to draw a little moisture out of the surface of the dough.  Cling film won't do that for you.

6  yes.  The more starter or yeast, the quicker the bulk ferment and final proof - and less flavor from the flour - that is why some recipes add other flavoring agents

Strongly recommend Bread by Hammelman.

there are several reasons to bake with spelt.  one is that people like me, who are wheat intolerant, can for some reason digest spelt.  some people feel there are additional health benefits to spelt that wheat doesn't have (i have no clue if that's true), and some people like the taste or like the taste when combined with other flour like rye.  there are probably additional reasons, as well, but these are ones i see mentioned frequently.

It sounds like you might be baking in the UK; is that right? In which case, your flour will likely be different from the flour that Trevor uses in his videos on Breadwerx. UK flour tends to absorb water differently so an American recipe using North American flour might end up different from yours. Trevor is also a very experienced baker and much more used to working with high-hydration sourdoughs. And I wouldn't try the overnight autolyse until you are more experienced, as it can turn your dough to soup if the conditions aren't just right.

So here are a couple of pointers from me:

• Stick to 65% hydration or lower until you are comfortable handling dough (i.e. the weight in grams of the total amount of water is 65% of the weight in grams of the total amount of flour; this includes the flour and water in the starter)
• If you are using someone else's starter, do you get it fresh every time? Has your friend just fed it so it is active and bubbling when you use it? Or are you maintaining some yourself? How? What's the feeding schedule, and how does it look? You won't get much in the way of good bread if the starter isn't strong to start with.
• If you want to use some whole grain flour (whole wheat for example), sift it to get the bigger pieces of bran out, then use this bran as part of the 'flour' to feed the starter. This will soften it up a bit
• If you want to do an autolyse, mix the flour and water to a rough mass, then let it sit for 30 minutes to an hour before adding the starter and salt. Or mix the flour, water and starter and let it sit, then mix in the salt. But make sure the salt is mixed in well
• As a compromise between kneading and no-knead bread, try doing 10 stretch & folds (do you know what these are?), 10 minutes apart, a total of four times. See how the dough changes through this process. So, mix the dough (flour, water, starter and salt) until it's all well blended, then let it rest for 10 minutes. Do a set of 10 stretch & folds (see this little video for an example), cover it and let it rest for 10 minutes and repeat for a total of four sets.
• Shape the dough the way Emmanuel Hadjiandreou does in this video.
• Spelt is wheat. It's an older variety is all, and it's proteins (the ones that form gluten when water is added and the dough is worked) are simpler than modern wheats. This means it is easier for some people to digest, and the gluten structure is 'weaker' than that of modern wheats. It is very stretchy (extensible) but not very strong (elastic), so it's difficult to form it into a strong, springy ball. It also can ferment much more quickly than strong bread flour will, so the timing for the bulk ferment and the final proof will be quite different if you want to use 100% spelt flour.
• If your dough is formed into a nice, taut ball with a good gluten 'skin' (smooth, unbroken surface with good tension), and your banneton (lined or unlined) is seasoned well with flour (mixture of brown rice flour and bread flour works well), the dough should not stick. However, that will take some practice!
• Don't try too much at once. Stick with a simple white sourdough of a medium hydration and get the mixing, dough development, handling, shaping and baking down pat before changing one thing, like the blend of flour you use or the level of hydration.

Keep up the good work!

and if you are in the UK whizz round to Waitrose and buy some of their Canadian white bread flour, it really is very high quality and very strong so it will help you.  Leave spelt out for now:)