A Guide to the BBS

In the past few years, the BBS's popularity has skyrocketed. New categories have been added, and new Whyvillians have joined in the conversation. Here's what you need to know about the BBS, and how to be a good BBSer.

The BBS stands for Bulletin Board System. It's basically a forums board where you can discuss a myriad of topics with other whyvillians. Whyville's BBS is commonly used to debate, critique Times articles, buy and sell faceparts, talk about events in Whyville, ask questions, and more.

First of all, before you start BBSing, real the rules and guidelines here.

Now, those are just Whyville's rules. There are some unwritten rules of the BBS that you should know about too.

1. Please, please, PLEASE use proper spelling and grammar. Wen u tipe lyk ur 5 years old u aint gonna B very likalbe. We understand typos, and the occasional text speak is okay, but remember, you have brain cells, don't talk like you don't.

2. Don't overdo it with bold, underlining, colours, and punctuation marks!!!!1!!1 No one will take you seriously.

3. NEVER type in a light colour. (Examples of this: Cyan, yellow, etc.) You're hurting our eyes.

4. If you're gonna troll, at least be a good troll

5. Don't overuse emoticons.

6. Don't spam.

7. Don't bump your threads every five seconds.

8. Don't abuse the report tool. Don't try "deleting" someone's post, just because you don't like them. Most likely, their post will be put back up and you will be punished.

9. Know what section to put your topic in. A big example of this is the Current Events section.

Things That DO Go in the Current Events Section

• Nationwide or worldwide events (natural disasters, war, politics, etc.)
• Current REAL WORLD events that have an impact on many people

Things That DO NOT Go in the Current Events Section

• Birthday announcements
• Whyville announcements (there's an "announcements" thread in the section 'Ask the City Workers')
• Your local news
• Celebrity gossip
• Anything that fits into the "Life in Whyville" category
• "My (relative)(friend)(etc.) passed away"
• "i pooped"/any kind of trolling

Everything has it's place on the BBS, and if you commonly misplace your threads, people will begin to resent you.

10. Don't bring up old threads. As a rule of thumb, if it's irrelevant (an old Whyville announcement, a not-so-current event, etc.), if the last post on it was made 3+ months ago, or it's not on the first page, don't bring it back up.

and finally

11. Be kind to one another! (Wait, did I just steal Ellen's catchphrase? Whoops. Oh well, she won't mind).

In general, BBSer's are kind and accepting of newbies. If you follow the status-quo, you'll be joining in on the discussion in no time! Happy posting!