beginner

I'm sort of familiar with Drupal but haven't had too much experience. I wanted to start this discussion to ask basic/beginner questions.

A question I'm wondering about right now is the out-of-the-box speed of Drupal. I've installed 4, 5, and 6 (not all at once) and they seem to be slow, right out of the box, with no content or any modules. Why is this? Is it a Drupal problem or is my server not optimizing PHP, or something else?

Has anyone else experienced this?

What are your beginner questions?

I've been recently hired by a Public High School in downtown Boston and after displaying some level of technical proficiency, the school has decided to make me their official Drupal person with the first project being to overhaul the existing Alumni Website. I have never worked with a CMS and have made it clear to them that this is something I will have to learn...

Hi,

I just found out about the Boston Drupal Group meeting scheduled for 10/9/07. About a month ago I set up a Meetup group, Greater Boston Drupal Meetup, and I have scheduled our first meetup for 10/10/07. How embarrassing :-). I see your future dates so I will try and schedule Meetup dates accordingly. I will also let
the Meetup folks know about the Boston Drupal Group meetings.