First things first, you should probably go and edit your profile by clicking the link at the top.  You can add in different pictures...both a profile picture and a small icon picture (your "site picture").  In your profile, you can easily put in quick blurbs describing yourself, as well as the details you usually have to fill out on social sites.  Finally, there is the "Add Widget" link.  This adds components to your profile page.  For instance, the Comment Wall enables users to leave comments about you. The Feed Widget allows you to add a news feed (such as the Pittsburgh Post Gazette's Steelers news feed.

If you've ever worked with places like FaceBook, LinkedIn, MySpace, and the like, you will be familiar with the idea of a network.  You can click the browse link in the upper right to find all the people on the site.  I'll eventually work on getting things a bit easier, but that's the easiest way of looking at who has registerd on the site.

There is the friends list, as well as a basic messaging component, so you can send a message to anyone who uses this site.  Spammers will be treated harshly here, so we will try to keep everything in order.  But if you meet someone at Joe's watching a game, this can be an easy way of keeping in contact. 

Next, you have the option of blogging on this site.  If you don't have a blog, or want a place to record your thoughts related directly to the Steelers, you now have a spot that you can record your thoughts.  Just remember, one of the key driving forces on this site is the tagging feature.  This is something that some might have seen on del.icio.us.  You can add in keywords that help organize the site.  So, odds are,a majority of items will be tagged with "Steelers" on here.  But let's say you are writing a blog about our quarterback and how he is doing this summer.  You might tag it as "Big Ben, Roethlisberger, Steelers, Mini-Camp, Latrobe"...now if anyone else blogs about minicam, they will be grouped together.  It's kinda a neat way of organizing things into "clouds" of information instead of everything having to fit within a single subject.

If you don't want to blog, or if you enjoy reading other people's thoughts, you are welcome to comment on them.  Just remember, there are a lot of people out there, so let's try to be civil (don't worry, if some raven's fan tries to sign on here just to cause trouble, they will get the boot.  a little banter is ok, but we won't tolerate someone who is here merely to stir trouble).

There's also a community on here that I created for Steelers Fans.  It's basically a group where everyone can communicate together easily and keep things organized in a single group.  Feel free to create your own communities.  If there's a large group of fans in Naperville for instance, there can be a Naperville Steelers Fan community to talk about where you all might meet to watch the games (if you don't come down to Joe's to watch of course).

There are a few other features, such as the calendar, rss feeds, presentations, and file sharing that I won't get into.  This is mostly to give people an introduction as to how to contribute and take part in the community. 

 As such, there currently is no more message boards. If you have a thought, just post a blog about it.  Others can view, comment, etc. and you have full control over it!  So we can say goodbye to the spam problems that affected the old site.  I'll be working on getting everything pretty self-sustaining, and for the most part, no administration will be needed, only communication and collaboration.

 Feel free to offer feedback! Just add a comment to the blog entry :)