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I was going through old issues of the Whyville Times today, and I found this:
Lately, many people have asked whether they can run an advice column for the
Times. They want to give answers to questions about dating and relationships,
family and friends, drugs and drinking and a whole lot more. Let's be honest,
folks: Anything that gets published in the Times has an air of legitamacy, of
officialness that nothing else in Whyville has. So if we post an advice column,
some people are going to take it *very* seriously -- which could lead to big
trouble if any of the advice turns out to be the wrong thing for the wrong
person!
So, since it's our responsibility, I've decided it would be unwise of the Times
to publish an advice column by any writer that's not covered by our company's
insurance -- which means anybody who's not on staff at Whyville. Sorry, but
that's the way it's gotta be, until we're rich enough to afford expensive
insurance and super-wealthy lawyers!
Since the Editor said, "Any writer that's not covered by our
company's insurance," that makes it seem like one of the CWs could do it, right?
I think that Whyville should get one of the not-as-busy CWs to make a monthly
advice column or something!
I'm not trying to pressure the CWs into doing this, because I know they are very
busy. I just think it sounds like a good idea.
-Gazzie37
Editor's Note: It's a good idea to consider. Why don't we have a City
Worker write an advice column?
The first reason is very similar to why we don't have kids write the column:
The fact is, giving out advice is not for amateurs, especially when that advice could have
a serious impact on real life. We don't have a trained psychiatrist or
child therapist on staff, so it would be tough to find a CW with the right
credentials to play Advice Columnist. We're really a team of educators -- programmers
and scientists, artists and journalists -- with a businessperson or two thrown in for
good measure.
Secondly, being an advice columnist is a really big responsibility. I'm sure we would get
folks asking for help with very serious real-life situations. None of us
wants to give the wrong advice to the kids who need it most; in the end, it's
much better for
you to find an adult you can trust in real life, and talk with them. Even if we
never responded to those kids' questions in the Times, it would eat at us that
we couldn't help them.
And then there's the most practical reason, that overwhelms everything else: We just don't have time. CWs and the
Times Editor are equally busy doing very Whyville-oriented work that keeps
Whyville going and makes it better. We'd rather do things that help our town be
more unique, more "Whyville", than add an advice column that, honestly,
you can find in any teen magazine.
Now, that gives me an idea. Maybe we should do a Whyville Advice Column! We'd
only answer questions about Whyville -- there are always plenty of those! What
do you folks think?Remember, there's still that problem of time. Doing
this might cut down the number of articles that we could publish by a piece or
three every week....
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