Zompist Bboard Again

I originally became a Zeeb member in 2005 IIRC, but it was some years before I actually became a regular poster.

I blundered into the ZBB in 2009.

man, y'all are making me feel young! I haven't even been alive for 20 years

/ˌnɐ.ˈɾɛn.dɚ.ˌduːd/ wrote: ↑Sat Jun 20, 2026 5:25 pm man, y'all are making me feel young! I haven't even been alive for 20 years

Meanwhile all this is reminding myself of how old I've gotten. It's remarkable to consider that this forum has existed in some form for over twenty years. I have so many formative memories of this place, from introducing my wildly unbalanced click languages, to arguing for socialism years before it was cool, to agonizing over my cultural background.

malloc wrote: ↑Sat Jun 20, 2026 6:27 pm Meanwhile all this is reminding myself of how old I've gotten. It's remarkable to consider that this forum has existed in some form for over twenty years. I have so many formative memories of this place, from introducing my wildly unbalanced click languages, to arguing for socialism years before it was cool, to agonizing over my cultural background.

I too remember the what, 600 pages? of Eddythread, with you spinning in circles while other ever-increasingly frustrated members of the forum tried to talk yourself out of the weird conclusions you had argued yourself into while you just dug in your heels (no judgment from me, btw, I have certainly had things on which I have been just as stubborn and frustrating, and probably still do)

alice wrote: ↑Sat Jun 20, 2026 2:31 pm Aw, thank you too! I'm so glad to hear you're good; I do remember you having a lot to cope with all the way back then. Are you still in Japan?

(btw IIRC I joined the ZBB around 2003, and I must be one of the few from that era who's still around. WeepingElf is another.)

Hope you're doing well also!

I am indeed still in Japan, living in a suburb of Osaka now. After a very rough year last year (lost my job, kicked out of my apartment, new job lied to me and I burnt out hard at record speed) I seem to have arrived at an unexpectedly easy place for the time being and have been increasingly delving back into my old creative work as well as starting new projects. Hopefully I'll make a conlang thread soon.

Risla wrote: ↑Sat Jun 20, 2026 7:16 pm

malloc wrote: ↑Sat Jun 20, 2026 6:27 pm Meanwhile all this is reminding myself of how old I've gotten. It's remarkable to consider that this forum has existed in some form for over twenty years. I have so many formative memories of this place, from introducing my wildly unbalanced click languages, to arguing for socialism years before it was cool, to agonizing over my cultural background.

I too remember the what, 600 pages? of Eddythread, with you spinning in circles while other ever-increasingly frustrated members of the forum tried to talk yourself out of the weird conclusions you had argued yourself into while you just dug in your heels (no judgment from me, btw, I have certainly had things on which I have been just as stubborn and frustrating, and probably still do)

I’m sorry to report that we still see it on occasion, though my personal opinion is that he’s slowly improving. Anxiety is a difficult beast to handle (as I know well from my own personal experience).

After a very rough year last year (lost my job, kicked out of my apartment, new job lied to me and I burnt out hard at record speed) I seem to have arrived at an unexpectedly easy place for the time being and have been increasingly delving back into my old creative work as well as starting new projects. Hopefully I'll make a conlang thread soon.

Great to hear! I have fond memories of learning about crazy Aymara/Jaqaru stuff from your Arrakum (or was it Arrukum?) thread.

(I apparently can no longer use BB code and am making a mess, ignore)

bradrn wrote: ↑Sat Jun 20, 2026 7:25 pmI’m sorry to report that we still see it on occasion, though my personal opinion is that he’s slowly improving. Anxiety is a difficult beast to handle (as I know well from my own personal experience).

Wouldn't expect otherwise, though in my recent lurking I've thought he seems a lot more flexible and nuanced than in the past.

Arrakum! Wow, even I barely remember it to be honest. I hope my notes for that turn up somewhere. Bet it's in my old Dropbox account, which should also be recoverable now...

Risla wrote: ↑Sat Jun 20, 2026 7:34 pmWouldn't expect otherwise, though in my recent lurking I've thought he seems a lot more flexible and nuanced than in the past.

Glad to hear it. I will admit that I've been quite a handful over the years and indeed decades.

Risla wrote: ↑Sat Jun 20, 2026 7:34 pm Arrakum! Wow, even I barely remember it to be honest. I hope my notes for that turn up somewhere. Bet it's in my old Dropbox account, which should also be recoverable now...

Well, I helped upgrade the old ZBB some time ago, and I think I should have the backup of all the posts somewhere. If want me to send you anything you’ve lost then I’d be willing to oblige. (That is, if I actually still have it in the first place…)

bradrn wrote: ↑Sun Jun 21, 2026 5:32 am

Risla wrote: ↑Sat Jun 20, 2026 7:34 pm Arrakum! Wow, even I barely remember it to be honest. I hope my notes for that turn up somewhere. Bet it's in my old Dropbox account, which should also be recoverable now...

Well, I helped upgrade the old ZBB some time ago, and I think I should have the backup of all the posts somewhere. If want me to send you anything you’ve lost then I’d be willing to oblige. (That is, if I actually still have it in the first place…)

Oh damn, I'd super appreciate that!

Risla wrote: ↑Sun Jun 21, 2026 6:29 am

bradrn wrote: ↑Sun Jun 21, 2026 5:32 am

Risla wrote: ↑Sat Jun 20, 2026 7:34 pm Arrakum! Wow, even I barely remember it to be honest. I hope my notes for that turn up somewhere. Bet it's in my old Dropbox account, which should also be recoverable now...

Well, I helped upgrade the old ZBB some time ago, and I think I should have the backup of all the posts somewhere. If want me to send you anything you’ve lost then I’d be willing to oblige. (That is, if I actually still have it in the first place…)

Oh damn, I'd super appreciate that!

Well, I found the file again, and loaded it into the database, but for some reason I can’t get phpBB to run without erroring. I can still read posts but I have to do it in raw [EDIT: and slightly obfuscated] BBCode from the command-line. Let me know if there’s anything specific you want.

My original account was started when I was in middle school or early high school, so I was also in that 2002-2005 time frame. Crazy to think if I had the money to travel I'd be going to my 20th high school reunion soon.

Risla wrote: ↑Sat Jun 20, 2026 7:16 pm Hope you're doing well also!

I lost my job last year (the money ran out) and am unlikely to be well enough to work again, but have at least been able to live it up at the taxpayer's expense get by on benefits. Things could be better, but they could be a lot worse.

Risla wrote: ↑Sat Jun 20, 2026 7:16 pm I am indeed still in Japan, living in a suburb of Osaka now. After a very rough year last year (lost my job, kicked out of my apartment, new job lied to me and I burnt out hard at record speed) I seem to have arrived at an unexpectedly easy place for the time being and have been increasingly delving back into my old creative work as well as starting new projects. Hopefully I'll make a conlang thread soon.

That sounds awful, but every cloud has a silver lining, etc. I look forwards to seeing your creations, and really ought to get around to creating some of my own.

/ˌnɐ.ˈɾɛn.dɚ.ˌduːd/ wrote: ↑Sat Jun 20, 2026 5:25 pm man, y'all are making me feel young! I haven't even been alive for 20 years

Enjoy it while it lasts.

Long ago I wrote two amazingly terrible novels, complete failures in everything from stylistic quality to character development. Nonetheless one aspect has aged surprisingly well. The villains are an ultra-corrupt dictatorship, utterly incompetent and pointlessly cruel yet inexplicably immune to consequences. Obviously this reflects poor writing on my part since I didn't really consider how a regime could function if it constantly wastes resources on ill-conceived pet projects and so forth. Yet whenever I reread the books, I am reminded of Trump and techbros.

linguistcat wrote: ↑Sun Jun 21, 2026 10:20 am My original account was started when I was in middle school or early high school, so I was also in that 2002-2005 time frame. Crazy to think if I had the money to travel I'd be going to my 20th high school reunion soon.

Reminds me that I joined the ZBB first in December '08 (after high school, but not by much; I was still 18 then), so a bit later than you, but still crazy to believe it's also almost been two decades for me and what's happened in the meantime: got a few academic degrees, became a Luxembourgish citizen, visited a lot of countries... Definitely have calmed down/become more mature in many ways while still remaining certifiably crazy in others, but now I realize I also started properly doing banknote/travel document designs digitally in 2010, so it's also been a while. (Another thing is that I also really started using my art "skills" (to use the term loosely) to design things for other applications, including graphics for publications, things for a friend, and a few group logos for places I've worked, which I developed in part thanks to the ZBB and doing the in-world graphics things.)

Though I actually would not go to my 20th High School Reunion, but that's a different situation. (High school was a bit of a mixed experience, plus the reunion'd be in the summer in the southern US, so transatlantic travel plus melting in the summer temperatures...)

lëtzeshark wrote: ↑Mon Jun 22, 2026 2:27 am Definitely have calmed down/become more mature in many ways while still remaining certifiably crazy in others,

Oh, how I know that feeling...

malloc wrote: ↑Sun Jun 21, 2026 4:45 pm Obviously this reflects poor writing on my part since I didn't really consider how a regime could function if it constantly wastes resources on ill-conceived pet projects and so forth. Yet whenever I reread the books, I am reminded of Trump and techbros.

Yes, but fiction has to be plausible.

Richard W wrote: ↑Mon Jun 22, 2026 9:48 am

malloc wrote: ↑Sun Jun 21, 2026 4:45 pm Obviously this reflects poor writing on my part since I didn't really consider how a regime could function if it constantly wastes resources on ill-conceived pet projects and so forth. Yet whenever I reread the books, I am reminded of Trump and techbros.

Yes, but fiction has to be plausible.

Even if speculative?

To be fair to malloc, if his villians had good reasons for being the way they were and weren't just intended as cariacatures or strawmen, He'd probably have something.