Introduction
Yes, even though Whyville prides itself for being one of the safest places online, it still has its criminal element: citizens who cheat and steal and curse and threaten and engage in cyber sex. These hooligans passed the chat test, so we know that they know better, but still they insist on breaking the law. Still, that doesn't mean that you have to suffer. There are ways to shield yourself from their antics.
Password Scams
Warning: scammers are loose in Whyville and they want YOUR password.
A small but busy band of thieves is active in Whyville. They try a million different schemes to pry your password out of you. They think it's cool and fun to go into people's accounts, change their passwords and steal all their clams and face parts.
It's easy enough to protect yourself from them. All you have to do is remember to keep your password safe. Don't tell anyone (not your boyfriend, your girlfriend, your best friend) your password.
It's also best not to use a password (such as your boyfriend or girlfriend's name, your birthday, etc.) that someone could figure out easily. It's best to not use a word in the dictionary like "hello" or "friend". Try mixing up letters together with numbers or symbols. Change your password regularly.
Remember that because there is no way for City Workers to figure out if someone has really been on your account, you are responsible for everything that happens on it! If the password thief gets your account banished, there's nothing to be done. 911 reporting won't help. Asking your parents to email Whyville won't help. So please be careful!
Here are some common tricks used by scammers to get your password:
- They offer to give you a makeover outside the Style Studio.
They'll even say that they'll buy you all the parts with their own clams; they just need your password so they can go on your account to shop and then arrange the parts. Puh-lease. If they really want to help, they can be your stylist at the Style Studio! And as for arranging them for you, most of us have figured out how to dress ourselves. It's not very difficult to figure out how to place your face parts and accessories.
- They offer to raise your salary.
Everyone wants more clams so these people appeal to your greed by offering to go on your account in order to play the games and drive up your salary. What they really want to do is drive your clams right into their own bank accounts!
- They sell or just plain give you an account that they've created and has a salary already.
You'll think "how generous!", but they have a trick up their sleeve! Since they have access to the parental address of the account, as soon as you've saved up good clams in the account, they can take it right back and pretend like nothing ever happened.
- They pose as City Workers.
Some of these people even create accounts with names that look like they are official City Hall officials but there are two easy ways to tell if someone is or isn't a real City Worker.
- All City Workers wear red hats with yellow CW lettering at all times.
- City Workers NEVER, EVER, EVER ask anyone for passwords. They won't ask you during a chat and they won't ask you via Ymail. In a nutshell, to repeat, in conclusion, City Workers DO NOT ASK FOR PASSWORDS EVER!
Trust your instincts. Guard your password. Use common sense.
Our Safety Tools
First, a few words about filters. Here in Whyville, everything you type passes through a filter. If the filter catches a word that isn't appropriate for Whyville, it'll ask you to rephrase your thought. City Workers update the filter all the time to keep up with the lingo of the day in all its off-color glory. Sometimes, the filter is overzealous and thinks there is an inappropriate word where there isn't. Please be patient with it and rephrase your thought anyway. It's not perfect, and it's really just trying it's best to do its job.
Aside from the filter and City Workers, Whyville also relies on its citizens to help keep the town safe. You play a very important role by helping to set our town's community standards. And you do this by using your safety tools: silence & vaporize and 911 report.
These tools are useful and easy to use. All you have to do is double-click on someone's head in Whyville and choose from the drop-down menu. Silencing someone makes it so you don't hear from this person anymore. This is perfect for getting rid of annoying people. If you get mad enough that you just don't want to see this person anymore, choose "vaporize." But if you come across someone who is not only being annoying or irritating, but is breaking Whyville rules and threatening the safety of our time, 911 report them immediately!
The 911 report tool is the most important safety tool in Whyville. By filing a 911 report, you generate an incident report to a City Worker, and a CW will investigate ASAP. If there has been a crime, they will punish the perpetrator, but if they find that the report is fake, they may punish you!
