Welcome!!

Welcome to the new and improved Put The Puck In The Net!!

Features of the site

• Chat - The Chat button in the menu bar will launch a Java applet connecting you to the PTPITN room on irc.everywherechat.com. Contact any of the moderation staff for the room password.
• Member Map - The Member Map button takes you to a page that has multiple maps that you can select using the dropdown and "View" button. Find the map that contains the area where you live, then click the "Place Your Pin" link. Then just click on the map in the vicinity where you live. It will be interesting to see where everyone's from.
• Private Messages - Clicking on the My Messages button will take you to your private messaging center. It's a cross between an in-board email and an Instant Message.
• Calendar - If you don't know what a calendar is, you probably shouldn't be using a computer.
• Members - Takes you to a listing of all the registered members of the site.
• Staff List - Takes you to a listing of the people on the site in whose good graces you really want to try to stay...
• Links - Have some favorite web sites you like to hang out at? Found any good, solid sources of URU info you want to share? Got a rock band of your own that you feel like promoting? This is the place to post those URLs.
• Tags - This is a mechanism for rapidly finding articles about specific topics. At the bottom of every thread page, there's a line that says "Tags:" followed by whatever tags have already been assigned to the thread, followed by a link labeled "[Add Tag]". The originator of the thread can tag his/her post with a couple words that summarize what the post is about, and readers of the thread are also able to add tags, too. Then, when you want to find posts about a specific word or phrase, you go to the Tags link from the menubar, and you can see a "cloud" of tags that have been assigned to various threads. Presumably, the more commonly used tags will be in a larger font than lesser-used tags in the cloud, thereby giving you an indication of what the more popular topics are about. Click on one of the tags, and you'll see a listing of all the threads that have been tagged with that word. it sounds more complicated than it is, but if people tag their threads correctly, it should be a pretty handy way to quickly find the stuff you're looking for.
• ShoutBox - At the bottom of virtually every page, you'll find a shoutbox. This shoutbox operates in near-real-time (it's AJAX-based, if you care), so it's almost as good for carrying on conversations as the actual IRC chat room. Note: IE7 is not compatible with this shoutbox at present. Perhaps at some point, the shoutbox can be hacked to work with the latest virus from Redmond, but don't hold yer breath...
  

Those blocks across the top and down the left side of the page

This site makes use of a portal system, called TinyPortal. That's what provides the block across the top that starts out with "Hello Username". It's what gives you the boxes down the side that are labeled User, Sitemap, Theme Chooser, Recent, Articles, Stats, Permissions, and Search.

Some of these boxes, you may find more interesting or useful than others. In particular, you might be interested in the Theme Chooser box, as this will allow you to switch between the various themes that are installed on the site. To permanently change your theme, go to the "Look and Layout" section of your profile, and click the "(change)" link.

For those blocks that you're not really interested in, there is a way to minimize them, and free up some screen real estate. Anywhere that you see a button that looks like , you can click on it, and the box that it's associated with will "roll up" and leave just the titlebar visible, and the button will change to look like . Different themes may have collapse/expand buttons that look a little different, but they all function the same.