Everyone has conflicting opinions about the Whyvillian in the Spotlight (W.I.T.S), a weekly article brought in a few months ago to highlight a citizen of Whyville. We all have different thoughts about its the merits and demerits. I decided to talk to some Whyvillians about theirs.

First, I decided to speak to athena92. A usual speaker in the BBS.

Cobd: Are you for or against the W.I.T.S.?
athena92: Well, I give my complete support to the W.I.T.S., but as of late, I've been sort of annoyed with it.
Cobd: Why?
athena92: As of late, it's been an award for a bunch of do-good citizens. That isn't what the W.I.T.S. is about, and I am sad that that is what it has become. Just about each person who's won the award has gotten it for being very nice and smart and unique yet average. It's very hackneyed.
Cobd: Have you had any particular favorites and why?
athena92: Well, if I had to pick a favorite, I think it would be Ooooopppp, because I think that he had some sort of "oomph!" to him. If anyone was original, it would be him.
Cobd: How do you think we can improve the article?
athena92: I think to improve W.I.T.S., we could nominate more people for different reasons, other than for being a great person. I think that someone should get the spotlight for being a bad person, in fact. It would be a reminder to what the W.I.T.S. really is about.
Cobd: Any other comments?
athena92: Well, I do think that people should stop stating, "I didn't just nominate this person because they hang out it Club Why, it's because they're nice." Reason one is because barely anyone who hangs out in Club Why is nominated, because it's getting really old. Secondly, the W.I.T.S. isn't only for the nice guys. When it was first introduced, it was supposed to be for anyone who is an interesting person who stands out some way or another. Now, it's just for the average Whyvillian. It's a spotlight, not an average Joe contest.

Next I decided to interview Chilly321, she has been Whyvillian in the Spotlight.

Cobd: Are you for or against the W.I.T.S.?
Chilly321: I am not against it, but I'm not for it either.
Cobd: Why?
Chilly321: I say this because it's good for someone to be in the spotlight in my opinion. I say this because it may make them happy and feel special and possibly be a better citizen. However on the other hand I think it should be randomly picked so to speak, because I don't think it's fair that most the time it is popular/well-known people who are in the spotlight.
Cobd: Have you had any favorites/not so favorites and why?
Chilly321: I don't really have a favorite, although I didn't really like the Feb 12 2006 edition of W.I.T.S because it was more about the person in real life rather then the girl as a Whyvillian in her Whyville self.
Cobd: How do you think W.I.T.S. can be improved?
Chilly321: As already stated I think the person who is W.I.T.S should be chosen randomly from the different submissions for it that are sent in, that way we know it was randomly picked (by using randomizer or something of the sort).

Next, we shall talk to Kimker. She is another usual speaker in the BBS and she has also won W.I.T.S.

Cobd: Are you for or against the W.I.T.S.?
Kimker: I'm against it, personally.
Cobd: Why?
Kimker: I've noticed it's too much of a popularity contest. The majority of the nominees (might wanna spell check that) have only received it for being famous face part designers, Times Writers, y-mail helpers, Senators, etc. That's my biggest reason, but I was also pretty disgusted when I found out a certain *ahem* someone who's name I won't mention got it by nominating himself on another account.
Cobd: Have you had any particular favorite/not so favorite W.I.T.S. and why?
Kimker: Let's see . . . so far 14 people have been nominated. The ones I approve of totally are ooooopppp, chalkie, frooface, armada, and beanpole. Of the remaining 9 there were 2 popular Times Writers, 1 y-mail helper, 3 who were y-mail helpers and Times Writers, an extremely popular face part designer, that person who nominated themself, and 1 person who I've never met or heard of, but sounded like she deserved it.
Cobd: How do you think W.I.T.S. can be improved?
Kimker: Well I guess no situation is hopeless, but I honestly don't see how. I suppose the Editor could not let people like some of my examples above get nominated, but that wouldn't be fair toward someone who had that job/jobs that truly deserved it. The problem is that with so many of these "popular" people winning, it's to hard to tell who won by popularity and who won by personality. It might be nice if we could be warned whenever we were nominated and were about to be published. A friend of mine nominated me once (actually more like a million times until I finally won it), and I was really upset when I got it, because as a Y-mail helper and Times Writer I didn't feel I fully deserved it. She even knew I didn't want to be nominated and did so anyway. Then again, how many people do you think would stop and say, "Hmm, you know what, I'm pretty well known here, I'm going to decline and let some undiscovered kind soul win it"? Not many.
Cobd: Any other comments?
Kimker: I just hope the people who have been spotlighted won't be insulted or offended by anything I said. You guys know who you are, I have nothing against you personally. I'm pretty much used to stirring up controversy in the Times and I wouldn't mind a break. Peace my friends.

Next we're talking to RavnClaw. Don't worry folks, we're nearly over ;-)

Cobd: Are you for or against the W.I.T.S.?
RavnClaw: I am both for and against the W.I.T.S., if that's possible?
Cobd: Why?
RavnClaw: I do like the W.I.T.S. because I read about certain Whyvillians, and what he or she has done. But I also don't like it because the BBS people can be extremely cruel to the people who get it. Also, there's the controversy that W.I.T.S. nominees are "popular" and have a lot of Times Writer friends, and they're from Club Why or Sun Roof. I am not saying that is true, just stating that a lot of people feel that way.
Cobd: How do you think the W.I.T.S can be improved?
RavnClaw: I think that if the BBS's were more closely monitored by the City Workers, and possibly deleting posts that are cruel. It has happened before by a City Worker, I think it should continue to be regularly monitored. I know there's the whole issue of "freedom of speech," but the W.I.T.S. is supposed to make a person feel good. Not tear down their confidence. If you don't have anything nice to say, then don't say anything at all. The W.I.T.S. has nothing to do with people personally, so people should not be taking it on a personal level. It's just a Internet article, lighten up people :)

Well, I'll let you construct your own opinions about these. Many thanks to the people who I interviewed.

Cobd
*Reminisces to when everyone argued like this about the Senate, and the flags*