My first three questions were:

1. Why do we have to pay to send face parts?
2. Why do we have to pay to send clams?
3. Why don't newbies start off with clams?

Here's what City Hall had to say:

"All 3 of these have the same answer, at least in part: because people cheat. When you create a screen name just to get clams, either by begging or from what you got when you started (we used to give newbies several easy ways of getting almost 100 clams in bonuses), or to get stuff from Grandma, that's cheating. So, we have to have some way of discouraging the cheaters; they ruined it for the rest of us.

For the first two, there's also the fact that we want Whyville to have what is called a "closed economy", but in order to do that we have to have clams coming back to City Hall... we're not anywhere near to the closed economy, but the satchel transfer fee and the ClamGram fee are a good start."

Then I asked these questions:

Q: Why can't we whisper in the Square?
A: Back when we had whispering in the Square, newbies were getting ignored left and right. We decided it would give the newbies a more open environment if people couldn't be whispering about them behind their back before they knew how to do it themselves.

Q: Why don't we have to pay to buy things for others but we do to send things to others?
A: This is sort of a loophole, I'll admit. I should probably fix it so it costs the same fee, but for now, it's free. Note from City Hall: I just remembered the other reason we have this fee -- sometimes people transfer their belongings from an old account to a new one because they know they're about to be busted/banished for something really bad that they've done. We want to make it not quite so painless to transfer to a new identity.

Q: Why do our face products have to be less clams than our salary or the same price?
A: This was because the prices were getting to be just too high for newbies or many people to afford! I mean, there were hats going for 250 clams!!! Plus, it makes people realize that your salary is important in Whyville, and in order to get a salary, you have to participate in the games. The games are a major reason why Whyville exists -- one of Whyville's biggest goals is to make learning science stuff fun!

Then I took some other questions that I answered myself.

Q: Why can't you chat if you are under 13?
A: I forgot to ask City Hall this one, so I don't know if this answer is very correct. I think that the government wants kids under 13 to be safe. They don't want you to give out personal information to evil people. You see, if you give out your email, the evil people can send you nasty letters and give your email to lots of other people who will send you junk mail. And if you give out your phone number the person could actually find out where you live and stalk you! Scary, eh? Don't give out your address, email address, full name, phone number or any of that information that belongs to someone else even if you can chat.

Q: Why are there mean, nasty and evil people in Whyville?
A: The main problem is that we are kids. Those evil people think they can take advantage of us because we aren't as smart as them. NOT TRUE! We can be smarter than them by not letting us be annoyed by them. The second someone says something bad, warn them or silence them. Get everyone around to warn them too! If they are warned three times they get kicked out of the chat room. Don't forget to tell City Hall what they said so she can punish them! (Editor's Note: And with the new 911 tool, you can notify City Hall of a creepy adult right away. Check out Whyville's security tools if you're not sure what to use when.

Also people want attention, don't give it to them. Just warn them or silence them and they will eventually get the message.

Q: Why are people so mean to newbies?
A: Well, this one doesn't have a good side to it. It all started when there was good hair and bad hair, good clothes and bad clothes. The bad clothes were usually made by new designers and in the bargain basement of Akbar's. These things were sent to Grandma's to be given to newbies, and before Grandma's existed, the bargain basement things were automatically sent to newbies. Some people are just so snobby that they decide they are a lot more prettier than the newbies, and so they decide to pick on them. Please don't make fun of newbies, and donate good things to Grandma's whenever you can!

I hope this helps you, and if you have further questions, mail me, BabyG7 or City Hall. We are happy to help!