I was in the same boat about this time last year. I was trying to decide between kings, milks, and corns as a first snake. I ruled out kings on my own for various reasons, but I really couldn't decide between the other two, so I went to the forums. I figured if I went to a particular species' forum, everybody would say "oh yeah, get this kind of snake because it's my favorite kind and you'll like it too." So instead of asking "which one should I get" I went to a milksnake forum and said something like "this is what I want out of a snake (easy to handle, good eater, etc). I'm trying to decide between a milk and a corn. Convince me that a milk snake would be a better starter snake." Then I did the same thing on a cornsnake forum.
You'd be surprised at the answers I got. Based on what I said I wanted out of a snake, a lot of the milk people actually told me "go with a corn." So decide which species you want based on which one will suit you better. By the way, I picked a corn...