Citizens Required
Created | Updated Nov 21, 2005
Rather than talk about Danny Wallace's motivation for starting his own country, this article is about the online community which joined up.
The Website
Citizens Required is the website created for people to register for the country created by self proclaimed king Danny Wallace during his BBC TV show "How to Start Your Own Country". Featuring numerous message boards and connected to BBCi, it's the main communication point between the diverse range of citizens. Unlike the Join Me website where Danny Wallace is universally supported by all joinees, the Citizens Required message board has been host to raging arguments and bitter struggles between loyal Danny suporters and groups of rebels angry at the actions of the king. The Citizens Required website has also earned a reputation as the worst behaved BBCi community, with widespread swearing, arguments, insults and moderator baiting after heavy handed treatment by the moderators charged with running the site. It's currently in a state of flux following Danny Wallace's desertion as soon as his TV series ended.
The Name
After six weeks of speculation, Danny Wallace's online country was controversially named "Lovely". The source of the controversy stemmed from the statement made by Danny Wallace promising the name of the country would be chosen by the citizens. An entire message board was set up to debate potential names, and citizens were asked to email Danny Wallace with ideas. After five weeks he revealed his two name shortlist, "Lovely" and "Home". This was met with shock and surprise by most citizens, as Home had never had any support on the message board and Lovely had never been mentioned before. With only two days to vote for the winning name there was no time to set up a protest and Lovely was chosen. To date it has been the cause of many arguments between citizens and is one of the main grievances of the various rebel groups.
The Population
Currently the total population stands at 51,933, though this is a misleading figure as an estimated 40,000 are passive citizens who have never used the message boards. There are around 300 active citizens at the minute and the figure is falling, mainly due to the apparent desertion by Danny Wallace after the TV series finished and the lack of updates to the Citizens Required website.
The Website
Citizens Required is the website created for people to register for the country created by self proclaimed king Danny Wallace during his BBC TV show "How to Start Your Own Country". Featuring numerous message boards and connected to BBCi, it's the main communication point between the diverse range of citizens. Unlike the Join Me website where Danny Wallace is universally supported by all joinees, the Citizens Required message board has been host to raging arguments and bitter struggles between loyal Danny suporters and groups of rebels angry at the actions of the king. The Citizens Required website has also earned a reputation as the worst behaved BBCi community, with widespread swearing, arguments, insults and moderator baiting after heavy handed treatment by the moderators charged with running the site. It's currently in a state of flux following Danny Wallace's desertion as soon as his TV series ended.
The Name
After six weeks of speculation, Danny Wallace's online country was controversially named "Lovely". The source of the controversy stemmed from the statement made by Danny Wallace promising the name of the country would be chosen by the citizens. An entire message board was set up to debate potential names, and citizens were asked to email Danny Wallace with ideas. After five weeks he revealed his two name shortlist, "Lovely" and "Home". This was met with shock and surprise by most citizens, as Home had never had any support on the message board and Lovely had never been mentioned before. With only two days to vote for the winning name there was no time to set up a protest and Lovely was chosen. To date it has been the cause of many arguments between citizens and is one of the main grievances of the various rebel groups.
The Population
Currently the total population stands at 51,933, though this is a misleading figure as an estimated 40,000 are passive citizens who have never used the message boards. There are around 300 active citizens at the minute and the figure is falling, mainly due to the apparent desertion by Danny Wallace after the TV series finished and the lack of updates to the Citizens Required website.
