Hello Whyvillians, Sari here with an article on your favourite online site: WHYVILLE!
When I first found out about Whyville, I thought it was a dream come true. This little virtual town had a steady population of over 200, and everyone was kind and gave me a helping hand to get on my feet. After a couple weeks, I had a steady salary, an equally steady face, and some awesome friends.
But, after 1999 was over, and Whyville started gaining more and more users, some of my friends began to drift away from me, making new friends, and leaving me all alone in the growing town of Whyville.
I can't deny it. Whyville was becoming addictive. I'd get up extra early in the morning before school, just so I could get on for a while to check my mail and get my salary. Then I'd come on after school, and I'd do my homework at the computer, so I could talk to my friends while writing my essay on the War of 1812. I started to ignore my homework, my real-world friends, and my reputation started to fade. I was constantly talked about outside of school, how "Sari spends too much time on her computer." And they should talk?! They were on for hours at a time!
Ah! I remember when Akbar opened the Face Factory, and new styles and trends were set. That's when the real trouble began for me. I was constantly judged on my appearance, not the person I was, behind this face. So, I made a very important decision: to just take a break from Whyville. I took two weeks of freedom from my computer. When I returned, though, it was only another week before Whyville experienced some major technical problems. "The Great Whyville Blackout" became top news for a while, with a contest for Whyvillians to enter stories on what had caused the blackout.
Hackers, scammers, etc. is the most terrible problem Whyville can't get rid of. Some users will try and scam you out of your money, face parts, and even try to get you to give them your password. This happened to me once, but the hacker, who will remain nameless, didn't take from my extremely larger collection of faces parts and accessories -- he/she added to them! I couldn't believe what I was seeing, all this new stuff that wasn't mine, or I didn't buy. The downside was that it was over 200 clams of my money spent on those items.
I try to help as many people as I can on Whyville. Some I can't really answer because it's about boyfriend/girlfriend stuff, or online relationships. I try my best though, and that's why I became a Why-Mail Helper. (In case some of you don't understand this term, people mail us with Whyville-related problems like how to earn a salary, make a face, etc.)
I hope you've seen Whyville from my point of view.
It's a wonderful place, but please, treat others the way you want to be treated.
Hoping for the best, this is Sari...
...signing off.
