To help you figure things out, there is a Scoop Admin Guide which can hopefully answer most of your questions.
Some tips:
Most of the layout is changed in "Blocks", found in the admin tools menu
Features can be turned on and off, and configured, in "Site Controls" in the admin tools menu
Stories have an "edit" link right beside the "Full Story" link on an index page, and right beside the "Post a Comment" link on the full story page. They can also be edited by clicking the story title in the "Story List" admin tool
Boxes are what allow you to write new features for Scoop; they require a knowledge of the perl programming language to work with effectively, although you can often make small changes without knowing much perl. If you would like a feature added but cannot program it yourself, ScoopHost does custom Scoop programming as one of its services.
If you aren't sure where to look for a particular feature or piece of display, try the "Search Admin Tools" link in the admin tools menu.
"It's not about money ... it's about sending a message."
That quote is from "The Dark Knight," specifically, the Joker (played with disturbing perfection by Heath Ledger). Without going into a level of detail that will break the analogy, the point behind that line is that there are some people whose principles are not for sale, regardless of whether for good or ill. Those who subscribe to the all-too-common philosophy that everyone can be bought, the only question being one of price, don't have the clue before the first clue how to deal with people of principle.
That philosophical disconnect was on full and open display this past weekend at the Michigan Republican State Convention, and the elites in the establishment plainly didn't know what to do about it.
I have, my entire adult life, desired to accomplish one thing above all others. Beyond what normal men might find worth aspiring to, I have always wanted to win one when it really mattered. To just once be the guy it all rides on when it's on the line . . . and deliver the goods. To slay the dragon, save the world, and get the girl . . . film at eleven. To, for one moment in time, have my "A game" firing on all cylinders . . . and be utterly unstoppable.
However, God, in his wisdom, has heretofore seen fit to withhold from me such success . . . until last weekend.