A coffee lounge

[milo]

[quote="busker" pid='276515' dateline='1767231781']
And also - milo wasn't a huge presence on the Movies, Music forum. So there's that.

Then there's the choice of poems posted, etc.

wait - this is actually interesting though - what do you mean the choice of poems posted?

[Quixilated]

Re: Coffee lounge -- while you were probably right all that time ago, currently, there is not enough activity to support the idea. Rowens accomplishes basically the same thing with a single thread in the sewer. He posts his chatty thoughts and people respond and chat with him. Theoretically, anyone could strike up a "chat with me" thread in the sewer. Or start a thread called "The coffee lounge" in the sewer and drum up conversations. That would be a good place to test the theory. If people seem interested in one coffee shop thread and in having conversations there, then that might prove there would be interest in creating a larger area for such a thing. However, as Bryn or crndl said (I'm too lazy to scroll back and see which it was), we don't want the poetry feed to be buried. We don't currently have enough activity on the site for all the poems to get the feedback they want/need. It's the same five people commenting heroically on everyone's poems. If the poems are buried under conversations, then those poems would receive even less feedback and we would lose our purpose. So: TL;DR 1. drum up more active members, 2. test it in a sewer thread (or in the discussion forum) first, 3. find a way for it to not bury the poems.

Re: Shem accusations. Please let me apologize on behalf of the site. We went through a harrowing time a while ago and some members are still suffering from the after effects. We had endless socks and fake personalities who would join, be friendly, post poems, and then be shem just back for more revenge. Endlessly. For years. It's now like Schrodinger's cat, everyone is always simultaneously both Shem and not Shem. Don't take it personally, they just have PTSD. We are trying to recover but it is slow going.

Re: your join date being wrong. Mine is too. If I remember correctly, at one point, something happened and Billy accidentally deleted some of us (I think it might have only been mods?). He was tinkering with something and accidentally deleted us and then restored us, but it changed the join date to that new date. My profile says I joined in 2016 but my first poem was posted in 2015.

[milo]

Re: Coffee lounge -- while you were probably right all that time ago, currently, there is not enough activity to support the idea.

Yah, as I think I may have mentioned, it would not make sense in its current form.

Re: Shem accusations.  Please let me apologize on behalf of the site. We went through a harrowing time a while ago and some members are still suffering from the after effects. We had endless socks and fake personalities who would join, be friendly, post poems, and then be shem just back for more revenge. Endlessly. For years. It's now like Schrodinger's cat, everyone is always simultaneously both Shem and not Shem. Don't take it personally, they just have PTSD. We are trying to recover but it is slow going.

This may be the most interesting thing shem ever did, props to him.

Of course, I have to wonder if any of them were truly shem or they just got banned and the "shem" tag applied to them afterwards. in light of what I have seen recently.

Re: your join date being wrong.  Mine is too.  If I remember correctly, at one point, something happened and Billy accidentally deleted some of us (I think it might have only been mods?). He was tinkering with something and accidentally deleted us and then restored us, but it changed the join date to that new date.  My profile says I joined in 2016 but my first poem was posted in 2015.

yah, now that you bring it up, I may vaguely remember that.  It is annoying because 1.  my post count is also significantly diminished and 2. If I am trying to find an old post of mine the search by author doesn't work

Great to see you again, quix

[wasellajam]

We'll never know for certain. It's possible that the true identity of milo and whether he was or wasn't Shem will be defended in PhD theses tomorrow.

But I also heard that Shem died from an infected baboon bite

also, not that I should defend myself because it is ridiculous - but I switched my avatar back from my allegory of the cave avatar to my original avatar on the site from when I was way more active.

Nobody else on the planet has access to that avatar!

Ha, I thought of using my old ella avatar but these days anyone can copy anything so your avatar is proof of nothing. And though my memories of the interactions before I left are fuzzy, I know I felt awful about being goaded into banning someone. Very possibly Shem lol or maybe Billy did it for me or maybe every  mod ever has banned him. 

Hi milo, not voting

[milo]

We'll never know for certain. It's possible that the true identity of milo and whether he was or wasn't Shem will be defended in PhD theses tomorrow.

But I also heard that Shem died from an infected baboon bite

also, not that I should defend myself because it is ridiculous - but I switched my avatar back from my allegory of the cave avatar to my original avatar on the site from when I was way more active.

Nobody else on the planet has access to that avatar!

Ha, I thought of using my old ella avatar but these days anyone can copy anything so your avatar is proof of nothing. And though my memories of the interactions before I left are fuzzy, I know I felt awful about being goaded into banning someone. Very possibly Shem lol or maybe Billy did it for me or maybe every  mod ever has banned him. 

Hi milo, not voting

fair enough observation except this avatar only exists on my computer.

[busker]

We'll never know for certain. It's possible that the true identity of milo and whether he was or wasn't Shem will be defended in PhD theses tomorrow.

But I also heard that Shem died from an infected baboon bite

also, not that I should defend myself because it is ridiculous - but I switched my avatar back from my allegory of the cave avatar to my original avatar on the site from when I was way more active.

Nobody else on the planet has access to that avatar!

Ha, I thought of using my old ella avatar but these days anyone can copy anything so your avatar is proof of nothing. And though my memories of the interactions before I left are fuzzy, I know I felt awful about being goaded into banning someone. Very possibly Shem lol or maybe Billy did it for me or maybe every  mod ever has banned him. 

Hi milo, not voting

Ella, is it really you?
Or a reanimated corpse
hijacked by the Golem
whose nem
mustn’t be spoken -
I mean Shem?
People thought you were dead
of old age, or in bed
staring at the ceiling, in a retirement home,
tired of the bad food.
It’s good 
to have you back, if you are she.

[wasellajam]

also, not that I should defend myself because it is ridiculous - but I switched my avatar back from my allegory of the cave avatar to my original avatar on the site from when I was way more active.

Nobody else on the planet has access to that avatar!

Ha, I thought of using my old ella avatar but these days anyone can copy anything so your avatar is proof of nothing. And though my memories of the interactions before I left are fuzzy, I know I felt awful about being goaded into banning someone. Very possibly Shem lol or maybe Billy did it for me or maybe every  mod ever has banned him. 

Hi milo, not voting

fair enough observation except this avatar only exists on my computer.

Screenshot then take it from there, baby. And I know nothing, except I’m pretty sure you’re the milo I know, though anything is possible lol

[milo]

Ha, I thought of using my old ella avatar but these days anyone can copy anything so your avatar is proof of nothing. And though my memories of the interactions before I left are fuzzy, I know I felt awful about being goaded into banning someone. Very possibly Shem lol or maybe Billy did it for me or maybe every  mod ever has banned him. 

Hi milo, not voting

fair enough observation except this avatar only exists on my computer.

Screenshot then take it from there, baby. And I know nothing, except I’m pretty sure you’re the milo I know, though anything is possible lol

Yes, but they would have had to go back in the past to do that, remember I switched to the parable of the cave avatar back in early 2017

[milo]

fair enough observation except this avatar only exists on my computer.

Screenshot then take it from there, baby. And I know nothing, except I’m pretty sure you’re the milo I know, though anything is possible lol

Yes, but they would have had to go back in the past to do that, remember I switched to the parable of the cave avatar back in early 2017

lol - also, I almost forget, I temporarily switched to a lady version of this one wearing a dress and I think holding some fruit.  you may remember but I bet noone else does.

[milo]

also - what a huge surprise seeing you here again, ella, what could have summoned you?

[wasellajam]

also - what a huge surprise seeing you here again, ella, what could have summoned you?

D

Just stopped in for a cup of coffee. No one more surprised than I am. 

[milo]

also - what a huge surprise seeing you here again, ella, what could have summoned you?

D

Just stopped in for a cup of coffee. No one more surprised than I am. 

I might just start a thread in discussion called "Coffee Lounge" to post random daily shit, idk.  Looks like voting was unanimously in favor of it

[busker]

My spidey senses are tingling

[milo]

My spidey senses are tingling

lol - what?

Don't make me post my Incredible Hulk sonnet . . .

[rayheinrich]

"There came to him an image of man's whole life upon the earth. It seemed to him that all man's life was like a tiny
spurt of flame that blazed out briefly in an illimitable and terrifying darkness, and that all man's grandeur, tragic dignity,
his heroic glory, came from the brevity and smallness of this flame. He knew his life was little and would be extinguished,
and that only darkness was immense and everlasting. And he knew that he would die with defiance on his lips, and that
the shout of his denial would ring with the last pulsing of his heart into the maw of all-engulfing night."
-- from the novel "You Can't Go Home Again" by Thomas Wolfe

Isn't it just like these famous novelists to go on and on about something using way too many adjectives and adverbs.
That's why I prefer short poetry and tend to place novels in with the dinosaurs and mastodons.
(Though at least they had the common decency to go extinct.)

...and he's wrong; after 30 years I went back home again and it's the same god damn place.

But okay, maybe he's a bit right when it comes to Pigpen; it ain't going to ever be what it was.
But hey, there's nothing wrong with enjoying whatever it is it/we are doing now.

And, dearest Milo, I've always supported the idea of a more accessible, above-ground,
non-sewer coffee klatch*. And yes, I concede there's a problem with idle chatter overwhelming
the always trenchant, all-important poetry criticism.

But there's a way to exclude comments from a specific forum from appearing in the
“Recent Posts” sidebar and I suggest that's what we should do with the

"Milo's Resplendent Kaffeeklatsch" (My Modest Proposal for it's official name.)

I'm going to intend to post the info in another comment below and pray this isn't another attempt
on my part to continue paving my way to hell.

* "Other accepted spelling variants include "coffee klatsch" and "coffee-klatch". They are all borrowed
from the German Kaffeeklatsch, meaning “coffee + gossip.”

[milo]

I actually did just start a thread called coffee lounge and I pretty much just prattle away in it. Feel free to jump right in! I was thinking of you when the idea struck me

[rayheinrich]

So I use Microsoft Copilot for everything and specifically anything to do with coding.
I've been doing stuff in Python using PyTorch to get a neural net of mine up and running
and, when it comes to software, it's nothing short of terrifying. It's no wonder software
engineers are losing their jobs left and right.

So I asked Copilot if the MyBB software that Pigpen uses can exclude specific threads or
entire forums from appearing in the “Recent Posts” sidebar and it said "yes" and it went
on in Copilot fashion to explain the details which I'm including in the P.S. below in case
that route might be deemed a solution to our problem.

Copilot sayeth:
"Absolutely — yes, you can exclude specific threads or entire forums from appearing in
the “Recent Posts” or “Recent Threads” sidebar in MyBB, but the method depends on
how that sidebar is being generated.

Below is a clear breakdown so you can match it to your setup.

? First: How is your “recent comments” sidebar being generated?
MyBB does not include a built‑in recent‑posts sidebar, so your board
is almost certainly using a plugin. The two most common ones are:

1. “Recent Threads On Index” plugin
This plugin does support excluding forums from the results.

2. “Recent Posts / RecentPostsIndex” plugin
This plugin can also be modified to exclude specific forums (FIDs).

✅ If your sidebar is from Recent Threads On Index
This plugin includes a setting in the Admin CP where you can exclude specific forums.

How to do it:
Go to Admin CP → Configuration → Recent Threads Settings

Look for an option like “Exclude Forums”

Enter the FID numbers of the forums you want excluded (comma‑separated)

This will prevent all threads in those forums from appearing in the sidebar.

✅ If your sidebar is from RecentPostsIndex
This plugin doesn’t have a built‑in exclusion setting, but you can exclude forums by editing the plugin code.

The MyBB community confirms this is possible by adding a condition to filter out specific FIDs.

Typical code change:
Inside the plugin’s SQL query, add something like:

php
AND p.fid NOT IN (X,Y,Z)
Where X, Y, Z are the forum IDs you want to hide.

This will hide all posts from those forums in the sidebar.

? What if you want to hide only one specific thread, not a whole forum?
MyBB doesn’t natively support excluding individual threads from “recent posts,” and most plugins don’t include that option. But you can do it by:

Option A — Move the thread into a hidden/excluded forum
Create a forum called something like “Hidden Threads”, set permissions so users can still access it normally, and exclude that forum from the sidebar plugin.

Option B — Modify the plugin to exclude a specific TID
You can add a condition like:

php
AND p.tid != 1234
This requires editing the plugin file, but it works reliably.

? Want me to help you identify which plugin you’re using?
If you can tell me:

What your sidebar is titled (e.g., “Recent Threads,” “Latest Posts,” etc.)

Whether it shows threads or individual posts

A screenshot of the sidebar (optional)

…I can tell you exactly which plugin you have and give you the precise steps or code snippet to exclude the thread or forum you want.

Happy to help you fine‑tune your board however you like.

[rayheinrich]

I actually did just start a thread called coffee lounge and I pretty much just prattle away in it. Feel free to jump right in! I was thinking of you when the idea struck me

You should change it right away to:
"Milo's Resplendent Kaffeeklatsch"

[milo]

I actually did just start a thread called coffee lounge and I pretty much just prattle away in it.  Feel free to jump right in!  I was thinking of you when the idea struck me

You should change it right away to:
"Milo's Resplendent Kaffeeklatsch"

This was the plan all along but I wanted to lure people in first

[milo]

Actually, it belongs to the members, I renamed it," The Pigpen's resplendent Kaffeeklatch"