Template:Greeting

Hi {{{1}}}, thank you for setting up a User account at Centiare. Having taken the steps to become a member now, you're really getting an insider's view of a new and exciting Internet property. Imagine if you were one of the first 50 users of MySpace, Slashdot, or Wikipedia! Centiare was set up to utilize the fantastic MediaWiki collaboration and editing tool for both personal and commercial directory content.

What makes Centiare different? Well, we've added all sorts of interesting extensions and modifications to increase functionality, not the least being:

• Contributors must first register with a non-throwaway e-mail address, so there is a higher degree of authenticity among users. Make sure you check your e-mail and respond to the confirmation message from Centiare! Some users have reported that this message can end up in a spam folder.
• Contributors are encouraged to take ownership of Directory articles about themselves or their enterprises. You may write as an opinionated advocate in the Directory -- neutrality is not required. You can sell products, promote videos, upload documents, even place some Google AdSense ads. You should start now by typing some content onto your own [[User:{{{1}}}|User page]], so that another contributor doesn't (inadvertently) claim ownership to your page by being the first to author content on it.
• Because the Semantic Web is installed on Centiare, searches can be performed that wouldn't be possible on Google, MySpace, or Wikipedia. For example, you might envision this search: "Locate all home heating oil companies, at least 50 years in business, in the state of New Jersey." You learn how to construct that kind of query here.

We encourage you to get started by being bold -- go ahead, add a listing. It can be for yourself, your business, a non-profit organization that you admire, or even just any "ordinary" topic under the sun.

At first, it may look more complicated than it really is. But once you start discovering how easy it is to update those handy Infoboxes, you'll start discovering the many opportunities to express yourself with the awesome MediaWiki software we have installed. And don't feel "boxed in" by the various attributes that are hard-coded into existing Infoboxes. You can design your very own framework of Categories, Relations, and Attributes, anywhere in Centiare. You can even use Centiare to make some money for yourself, if that's your cup of tea.

Various experienced Users will be happy to walk you through some of the basic elements if you're interested -- not the least being your (or your company's) own Directory listing. In the meantime, a few favorite pages that might help acquaint a new user with what's possible are found among the Demonstration links, or in this article by an independent reviewer.

Again, welcome to Centiare, The Free Directory.