Good day! I just reached 60th level with my first character this morning. I was able to freely ask questions with any of my characters in the New Player channel, including this morning with this character. I started a new character, though, and found that he didn’t have access to the channel. Was the removal something that is permanent for my entire account now? Outside of the forums here, none of my characters will have an appropriate channel to ask questions in?
Yes, I believe that’s right.
I believe Blizzard now consider you a “New Player” up until you get one character to level 60. Used to be 50.
Which … I understand why, but I also understand that the real burst of questions for a new player come in the range 70-80 - and especially when you first hit max level at 80. Whoo, boy! That’s when the questions REALLY start. 
There is an excellent Discord, Wownoob. for new players. It may be a bit noisy, but you will get answers to the questions you ask there
https://discord.gg/wownoob
And of course this forum is still open for you.
grins Thank you again for the replies. I had high and, likely, unrealistic hopes for the channel when I discovered it. I had hoped that I wouldn’t have to very frequently tab out to ask questions and find information.