Hey Nomad - have you considered subscribing to threads that you want to watch?  The site will email you anytime a post is made. 

That said, I can easily do a page to list the last 30 topics, sure.

Breebles - I'll test this on my own android.  There shouldn't be anything to prevent copy/paste.

In the USA, Thanksgiving is a big deal at most people's houses.

Not so much at ours.  Oh, we get together, and my wife does a holiday menu - but Black Friday shopping is more of the thing.  She and I will do the stay out late Thursday thing, be there when stores open on Friday, etc. 

We then start putting up our Christmas tree and decorations.  We are now well into the double digits number of rubbermaid totes full of decorations - and this oesn't count the tree itself, the outdoor light up stuff, or odd things that don't go into totes (such as wreathes, etc). 

On Saturday, we do a TON of appetizer/party type foods while we decorate.  These get reheated on Sunday as we finish. 

This year's menu will include:

cheese tray w/crackers
chips & onion dip
pretzels & spicy dip
stuffed jalapenos
sliders
kielbasa slices
chicken fingers
wassail
one or two desserts
more to come?

Christmas Day is the big one.  We host a late lunch/early dinner at our house with just crazy amounts of food, and open gifts withthe extended family.  My wife will prep for a huge amount of Christmas Eve.  I will stay up, finsih wrapping presents, assemblign anything that Santa needs to assemble, make butterscotch fudge, and watch A Christmas Story and It's a Wonderful Life while I do (and cry at the latter).  I usually go to bed after daylight, get about an hour nap, then kill a couple of Monsters to stay functional. 

Woo, holidays!!

What are you traditions?

Team Leader, please divvy the equipment as you see fit. 

A note - a Porto-scrubber looks like a large electric tooth brush, and is useful for personal hygeine. 

"Hey," Steam mumbled while poking Ammpe in the shoulder, "Hey Team leader, wouldn't ever try to tell you how to do your job or anything, but this guy's an Infrared," he says louder, glancing at the pipsqueak, "you have authority over him. You could recycle him for being uncooperative with Friend Computer's orders," louder still he says, "Which clone number do you think this inefficient traitor is on, anyway? I hope it's six."

Ammpe grinned at that. “I’d bet at least five.” His grin widened, just a little menacingly given the sparks that crackled behind his eyes, and he leaned toward Stock-BOY. “I didn’t say there wasn’t a mission number, pip-squeak,” he growled, “I said that this stupid jackobot lost it. Isn’t it your job to have a backup mission number in the event of faulty robot memory? Isn’t that standard event 25010 protocol?”

Jackie seemed offended at the suggestion, though it was unclear if Jackobots were even programmed with emotions.  "BEE-DEE-BEE-DEE-BEEP, superior human intellect," it chimed.  "It is unnecessary to levy insults.  Perhaps my memory chips are degrading and need examination, but I do not recall you ever asking for the mission number.  How then, oh intelligent one, did you surmise that I had lost it?"

Stock-BOY seemed unphased.  "Perhaps you troubleshooters did not notice when that Orange clone was shot for trying to break line.  I can assure you that you will be reduced to charred carbon before that laser pistol clears your holster," he spoke in a bored tone as he gestured meaningfully to the ceiling mounted laser cannon.  "It happens in here two or three times a day.  Also, Standard events do not extend into that high of a numbring range."

The infared bobbed his head officiously.  "I am very sorry, but this office is not equipped to determine the veracity of lost mission number claims.  Without a number, I simply cannot cross reference any equipment that may or may not have been assigned to a mission that may or may not exist.  Have a nice day.  Next!"

Fortunately, Blowz was not so easily deterred.

He quickly turned to the jackobot and said, "Jackzie, Ze Mizzion nomber.  Zu punched it inzu se dorz beforz.  Zu muzt knowz it.  Tellz se nizz zuperiorz clonz ze numberz.  Yez?" 

" "BEE-DEE-BEE-DEE-BEEP, superior human," the jackobot intoned.  "If you insist, I will relay the mission number."  Turning to Stock-BOY, he continued.  "The mission number for these overqualified troubleshooters is SEC-481013A4.34C-TOP."

The PLC clone bobbed his head and consulted his terminal.  "Oh!" he exclaimed.  "It's a SECRET mission!  Well, why didn't you ay so already?"  He types somthing in, and helper bots begin bringing equipment to the desk. 

Meanwhile, Stock-BOY prints out a receipt.  "Team Leader, please sign this form to notaraize that you have received all listed items, and that they are in good working condition."

The manifest reads:

1 container supergum/solvent
1 gas mask
2 case, Cruncheetym Algae Chips
1 First Aid Kit
1 Biochemical Supplementary Pack with hypo-syringe
15 red laser barrels
4 grenades
1 Thermo reflecto-blanket
1 Life-size Teela-O-Mly mannequin (poseable)
1 Porto-scrubber
1 standard Type I Multicorder
6 standard Comm 1 units

Once everything is collected, Stock reminds you to be certain to not damage anything.  Meanwhile, the line behind you has grown not only loger, but dangerously impatient - it seems a wise time to leave the PLC.

The team returns to the hoverbot.

"BING! Welcome back, troubleshooters.  According to your mission plan, the next scheduled stop is Research and Development.  Please fasten all safety restraints, and enjoy the trip!"

Of course, there still are no safety restraints.  And holding on seems even more precarious than ever, what with the new equipment in tow.

Fortunately, the streets have emptied a bit - or Steam has gotten better at piloting.  One corner is taken too sharply, and the hoverbot does make a sickening crunching, craping sound against a building, but while evryone is thrown around like loose change, amazingly, no one falls out.  Soon enough, two trash recepticles are crushed in the process of parking.

"BING!" the hoverbot chimes. "Research and Development - we have arrived at our destination. Please watch your step when deboarding, and have a nice day!"

I can't imagine him NOT sleeping in the nude.

Yep.  Note that if you do it right, you will see your image show up right there int he preview as you compose the post.  If it doesn't you used the wrong link code.

For example, on my image above, the "image link" is imgur.com/fHHq7zr.  That will take you to the imgur page where my image is hosted, but if you specify it as the image course, you get a broken picture.  Instead, I use my "direct link" of i.imgur.com/fHHq7zr.jpg - and it works.

As with most foums, you use an image hosting service like imgur.

Click the insert/edit image button here (between the chain icon the the underlined leter A). For source, specify the link to the image (for imgur, it's the one they call "DIRECT LINK" - ends in .jpg, .png, etc).  You don't have to fill out anything else.

Example:

This is srious Trek RPG, not some slash fic! 

Stardate 2365.02.21
USS Peregrine, Bridge - 0352

Any illusions about the excitement that surely surrounded the activity of a shift in the Big Chair had died a yawning death, crushed by the tedium of the faint, continuous hum of the warp drive and the never-changing displays that simply recycled the normal status readouts of a vessel at warp.  Ensign Garner had provided no small amount of diversion to the bridge crew with his antics; the whistling, the humming, and the blatantly obvious day dreaming were themselves welcome distractions among the enlisteds who had to stand the Saturday night graveyard watch with him.  Truthfully, none among them could truly blame him, and Garner's youth and Academy shine were enough to cause them to grin and pointedly attend to their own stations.

Suddenly a warning alarm flashed at the Operations station.  "Ensign Garner!" Petty Officer Brok exclaimed.  "I'm detecting an abnormality with the warp field, it.."

With no further warning, there was a wrenching sensation and the deck pitched violently.  As it did so, the main viewscren display shifted from the streaking lines of warp to a normal star field.

The intercom went off.  =/= Engineering to Bridge! =/=

OOC: assuming Garner responds

=/=Sir,=/= came the clipped voice of Master Chief Davis. =/=Something is wrong with the warp field generator!  I have initiated an emergency shutdown, as a catastrophic fault was detected. =/=

Technically, the Master Chief had probably overstepped his bounds a tad by not clearing the shutdown with the bridge first, but the type of failure described was the sort of thing that could instantly destroy a ship...

Davis' tone was all business, with a defintie undertone of stress - this was no lark, no hazing of the green ensign. 

OOC: assuming some conversation here from Garner

The conversation was interrupted by the T'Darin's voice.  "Sir," he spoke calmly.  "I am picking up two... no, three vessels coming towards us on rapid intercept vectors."  The Rigellian Tactical officer's voice took on an edge.  "They are aquiring target lock on us.  Sir, I suggest evasive maneuvers and to raise the shields and arm our weapons."

I hate that.  I was never a comic book guy, but I appreciate the suprhero genre, have really enjoyed the various Marvel movies, and appreciate the huge contribution that this guy made to pop culture.  Hah... and he seemed to really enjoy his celebrity, what with the cameos and such. 

Kudos to him and his life.

Let's not bother to go down that road.  We typically only ban spammers or those who feel like they have to attack other people.

I like that, Eol.

Dragon-soul - banning removes your ability to see them.  However, someone could theoretically be banned from the site, but be allowed back eventually.  So they get removed from listings and such, but their record is not deleted.

This also prevents them from singing up again and again via the same email address.

I've looked before at killing inactice accounts, but there is seldom a need for that. 

I need to perhaps beef up the CAPTCHA stuff that stops automated signups, but we get few of these - I feel like these are actual people signing up to link their spam, so it's super tough to prevent those. 

I could maybe hide links in profiles that have no posts.

This is now underway.  I am starting it with zero logic, but will add to it. 

Please welcome SilentOne, who will be assuming the role of Artie.

I have a post all but ready to go, but I am waiting for Crowe to post first.

Genius.  The Inn is now funded for the next five years.

I think that I need to release a tee shirt for the fans of this new improvement.

You haven't been a member for twenty years.  And you didn't die.

Cheese. Melodramatic much? 

To celebrate a cool new feature of the Inn (the ability to see previous posts when you reply to a thread), and to kick off a little light posting, I am starting a simple new posting game - tell us about you!

Simply copy/paste the following section into your post, replacing all of the answers with your own.  The first post will contain my info, obviously.


What is your age? 42
What is your gender? Male
Where you are from? Alabama, USA
What is your relationship status? Married 23 years
Do you have children? yes, eight.  Ages 22 years down to ten months
What sort of work do you do? I'm a Senior Systems Administrator (IT work)
What is your dream job? Self employed internet entrepreneur (live off the residual income from my websites)
What hobbies do you have outside of gaming? I brew my own beer, do a little blogging, and love to plan Disney World trips for my family (or other people's families - I'm the "Disney Guy").  I enjoy watching sports on TV, and coach little league baseball in the spring.  And I do play video games.

Bumping!  I need someone who's a glutton for punishment, and ready to be minced, melted, and incinerate for Friend Computer!

That's obviously just a little silver screen moment to keep things interesting.  It's been a long time since I've added one.

"You did WHAT?" she hissed, fury crackling like lightning in her blue eyes.

The young man on his knees before her pitched his forehead into the dirt.  He had seen that look before, and recognized the peril that resided within. 

"Mistress," he began, as the words tumbled from his mouth, "we have ramped up our efforts to find more candidates for the Ritual.  After all, to anchor..."

"Silence!" she snarled.  Her foot came up and connected with his nose with a sickening crunch, but the robed man on the ground dared no whimper.  "Do not think to educate me as to the importance of the Ritual, nor those we need to complete it!"

In silent fury, she brushed an errant patch of blonde hair back behind her ear.  "Whose idea was it to expose us to the enemy through such carelessness!"

The prone man stammered.  "It... Mistress, the idea was mine, but you know that I lack the authority to carry it out!  I asked Berevis if it might not be wise, what with the failures of late, I have always served our Lord with all my being.  I..."

"Enough," she spoke with finality.  "Berevis will be the one to feel my wrath, then.  It is true, you have always served with your entire being."

Feeling a glimmr of hope, the man on the ground sobbed thankfully.  "Thank you for your mercy, Mistress. Thank you.  I..."

The older women held up a hand, waved.  Momentarily, a young woman, no more than fifteen winters old, joined her.  The younger woman hung her head.  "Yes Mistress?" she asked quietly. 

The priestess smiled softly.  "Lyssa, Brother Danton here has given his entire being to our Lord.  Wouldn't you agree?"

You girl cocked her head, as if considering.  "Yes, Mistress.  He has."

The older woman nodded.  "And yet, he is a fool.  Here, take this," she spoke, as she pressed a short knife into the young woman's hands.  "Open his belly for me, please - but do it carefully.  Do not nick his organs or cause him to die just yet."

The sound of several giggling voices could be heard drawing near, even as the man on the ground moaned in despair.

"It is time," she continued, "for Brother Danton to truly give of his entire being.  The hunters are hungry, and they do better with frresh meat.  Living meat."

Wide eyed, the girl listened to the intructions. 

"When you are ready, allow them to feed to their fill," she spoke firmly.  "But he will not die until then, are we clear?"

A wide grin spread across the young woman's face.  "Of course, Mistress!"

She ignored the ghouls that pressed in close, except to rebuke them midly.  "There, now - wait your turn!"

The man on the ground wailed for mercy, but remarkably, did not move - even as he was turned over and the knife in the girl's smal hand began a series of excruciating shallow cuts.  His screams, now, were another manner entirely; the arose in exquisite agony as the blood welled out, and the hunters giggled and licked their lips in anticipation...

I do the tab thing, too, and it's a pain because alt+tab on;y works on windows. 

I was reading this thread today and came across Ayrn's suggestion again and thought... dude.  You are at least five years overdue in adding this feature. 

So, here ya go.