Do you have a welcome article as the first article on your frontpage? Do you have to "re-order" your frontpage every time you write a new article because the new article gets placed above your welcome article?
There are usually a simple solution to complex problems :o)

The official Joomla! 1.0 User Manual was written for Joomla! 1.0.11, and has been used since.
You can use the same manual for Joomla! 1.0.15