Well it's no secret that newbies now-a-days are being ignored, but I think the situation has reached a point such that it needs to be addressed. Amanda and I, Deriko, have decided to conduct a survey to discover whether or not citizens still have the friendliness I once knew when I joined Whyville.

I'm sure you've all heard the stories of kindness from years such as 2001, 2000, and maybe some of you 1999. If anyone's experienced that sort of kindness, then I hope you're still passing it on. If you had one person help you out, or give you clams, then it's only fair that you do the same. It's written in the unwritten Whyville Way!

The survey was simple. We tested unnamed citizens by chatting to them with two different accounts: a Newbie account, and an Oldbie account.

Here are the different results we received. From the Oldbie account, Amanda, we went to several citizens and said, "Hey," and looked for their results. Here are some replies.

Whyvillian 1: "Hey Amanda!!!"
Whyvillian 2: "OMG it's Amanda!!"
Whyvillian 3: "Hey!"

To a Newbie account, created not too long ago, the following results were recorded.

Whyvillian 1: "Hey" - Then the boy beside him said, "Hey dats stupid to say 2 him n00b."
Whyvillian 2: "Eww a tator."
Whyvillian 3: "n00b"

Wow, not so nice results! I think it's quite obvious, without actually showing more of what we got, the sort of things people say to Newbies.

I'm going to have to say that these results aren't looking good. Citizens, the amount of effort and money Whyville puts into trying to attract new citizens ultimately depends on you! The new Newbie Center, the new annoying bell that calls Y-mail Helpers (that needs an off switch), the Newbie pamphlets . . . it all goes to nothing if the new guys feel unwelcomed.

The ultimate message here is that Whyville needs you to be nice to these guys. You don't even have to keep them entertained for long. Just show them that there are friends here to help them along the way. If they've got questions, tell them who can answer them if you don't feel like answering them. (FYI ??? if you plan on being a Y-mail Helper, here is some, "I plan on becoming a Y-mail Helper advice," . . . you should be one of the people that actively talks to Newbies and answers their questions even before you become one).

I hope the message is clear here folks. Keep it real, keep it clean, keep it fun and most of all, be nice to Newbs because you never know who you're talking to!

Yours,
Amanda and Deriko