The Friend Finder is a new tool available to Why-Pass holders. Want to know more? Then just read CW scyllaCat's words:

"Why-Pass holders can use the Friend Finder to send a message to anyone in their Address Book that basically says, 'Meet me at such and such place on Whyville.' The message will reach the recipient if they are currently in any chat room. If they're not on Whyville or aren't in a chat room, they won't get the message; but the sender will get a message saying that the person didn't get the message, so they'll know to try again later."

Isn't that great? The Y-mail goes on to explain in great detail how the Finder works:

"If the intended recipient is in a chat room, what they'll see is a small animation of the WhyBird in the upper right-hand corner. The name of the sender also appears right above the animation, so the recipient can decide it they want to read the message or not.

To read the message, the recipient clicks on the WhyBird and a box opens up across the top of the chat room that says something like, 'scyllaCat would like you to meet in Whyville Square'. You can click on the 'x' to close the message. You still have to navigate to your friend, but at least you'll know where your friend wants to meet you."

And then there's a description of how to send a Friend Finder message:

"If you're a Why-Pass holder, go into your Address Book and click on a friend's name. Then, on the page with your friend's info, you'll see something that says, 'Friend Finder Request that [your friend's name here] meet you:'. There's a short list of locations you can choose from a drop-down menu (we're going to make this list a little longer soon). Whatever location you choose, that's the one that will be mentioned in the message to your friend. Once you've chosen a location, click on 'Send Message'.

Now you'll either get a message that confirms the message was sent or you'll get one that says that the message couldn't be sent. If it couldn't be sent, it means that your friend isn't on Whyville or isn't in a chat room or has blocked you from sending them messages.

One last thing: Although you have to have a Why-Pass to send Friend Finder messages, anybody can receive them."

Pretty long mail,hah? Well, there's more! Y-mail Helpers also learned about the Food link in our satchels. To find out about it, check out the article by qtgirl003 in this week's paper. That's a good answer for your food questions, I'd say.

Now, there was yet another mail to the Helpers about the Helpers. I've been told it was a bit confusing for some people to understand, so I decided to explain it in what I hope is an easier way. ;-)

Have you ever gone to the Newbie Center, and found no Y-mail Helper there? If you have found one, lucky you! Y-mail Helpers don't go there much, because they rarely find someone to help. So the Center has sat there empty for a couple of weeks now.

But there's good news! The CWs are hatching a plan to save the Center! The Y-mail Helper who goes to the Newbie Center the most, and actively helps people, will get prizes! The winner will also get their picture on the wall of the Center, in place of the Whyville map.

You can sure bet there will be Helpers at the Newbie Center more often!

On top of that, there will also be a Newbie Hour put on the calendar on the Welcome Page.

I hope this answered some of your questions. But wait!!! Don't turn away yet! I also took some pictures!

1. Here is Andrea96, who just arrived at the Center:

2. I got some people to come to the Newbie Center!

4. Wow! There's three Y-mail Helpers! Andy109 just popped up.

And guess what? CW scyllaCat came as well. I tried to take a picture of his arrival, but he escaped before I could get past some technical troubles with my computer. Oh, well! You can see pictures of him in my report on the Meet the Makers meeting this week.

This is Danny2112 here, logging off.
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