From the start, Whyville made a name for itself with the safety of our citizens. Parents, teachers, and kids alike would comment to City Hall how secure they felt they were in Whyville, long before the addition of 911 reports and the citizen-controlled vaporize tools, even before the introduction of duct tape and fines!

When City Workers detected an increase in the cases of bad language one winter, improvements were made immediately to the filter, and duct tape made its first appearance on a Whyvillian face. Citizens soon learned what was and wasn't okay to say and do, and they let City Hall know when they thought city workers were going overboard. Our community discussed these topics, and grew.

The compliments increased, but City Hall wasn't near finished yet. Safety is an ongoing concern, not something about which you can sit back, clap your hands together, and say, "I'm done!" You have to always work harder, every time, according to her. That's why she developed chat 911 reports last year, as well as the community tools of warn, mute, and vaporize. "Whyville is what its citizens make of it," she says. "We're all responsible for keeping each other safe -- from the most experienced veteran to the wide-eyed newbie who hasn't even learned what clams are yet. We all have a job to do -- that's why we call each other citizen instead of "users", like most websites."

And that's why there is yet another batch of safety tools being introduced today. Spot somebody offering clams for signing petitions? See someone giving away phone numbers in their City Records? Please let City Hall know about it by using the new 911 tool you'll find at the City Records and the Poll Booth!

That's the news today,

Times Editor

P.S. On a whim, I just counted how many published newspapers are in the Whyville Times... guess what? This week's paper makes for our 150th edition! Yay us!