Level 1: Initiate

When you register on PerlMonks, you begin as an initiate. This is the first of many levels you can achieve as a community member. Just for registering, you get several perks right away. Here are some of the things any registered monk can do:

• You get your own personal "home node", where you can post information about yourself. Any time your name is displayed by the site (for example, in the chatterbox), it is linked to your home node.

• You can customize PerlMonks to suit your preferences via your user settings.

• You can post nodes in your own name instead of as Anonymous Monk.

• You can gain (and lose!) experience points (XP) by people voting on your nodes, and via other means. (And since you're new and we're kind to new Monks, you have a chance of earning XP each day just for logging in.) But since you took the trouble to register, we'll guess you have a question. So go ahead and ask it ... after reading How do I post a question effectively? and Markup in the Monastery. (We are NOT always gentle with those who fail to read and heed the Monastery's standards.)

• You can move up (and down!) levels (with their attendant perqs) by gaining/losing XP.

• You can use the Chatterbox to chat with other users and ask basic questions.

There are many more things you can't do if you're not registered and logged in. A fairly comprehensive summary of these can be found in Restrictions of the Anonymous Monk.

See also: the Voting/Experience System