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Community News
Server Problems - 02/03/2004
by Gavin M Roy
As most of you probably noticed, the site's been running slower again. Basically it's outgrowing our newest database server already. I've done some tweaking and the site is back up. I've disabled some of the more intensive things such as the comment count on every page. It will remain off until I can modify the system to carry it as part of the members table and increment it when people comment on your poems, as opposed to dynmically counting it every time you hit a page. I will be starting work on eMuse again shortly. One of my other projects, GameSurge. Is already running the core engine for eMuse, so you guys can get a good feel for some of the neat things to come.
Sorry for the extended downtime.
January Teen Patron Contest Winners - 01/27/2004
by Bruce W Niedt
Wow! You guys really outdid yourselves this month! We had probably the best batch of poems since we started this contest nine months ago. The large majority of them were a real pleasure to read, and competition was so keen that some poems, which might have been contenders in previous months, didnÂt make the cut. So thanks for the great response to our Âepigraph contest! Our first-prize winner is Lindsay Sanders for her ingeniously-crafted Âvolcanic kissesÂ. She will receive Patron status and another prize to be determined. Second prize goes to Shehan Hayes for ÂPoetry is Lamb Dust  KerouacÂ, and third prize goes to Christian Ragunton for Âballpoint calligraphyÂ. All three winners will also receive book prizes and will be featured in a future Poem of the Day. Special Honorable Mentions (which will also be featured as future POTDÂs) go to Chad Bauer for ÂPhotographing CemeteriesÂ;
Brian McGinnis for ÂLiliesÂ; and Mainon Schwartz for ÂCue the Marveled TexturesÂ. Honorable Mentions also go to:
Kelly Bartolotta, ÂBlind Awakening (sestina)Â;
Andy DeLoach, ÂCardboard PlanetariumsÂ;
Jersey Gibson, ÂRaining in MayÂ;
Kathryn Lord, ÂAnything You Can Do, I Can Do BetterÂ;
Abbey Meents, ÂLittleÂ;
Aiko Scott, Âthe dream: skinsketch and bendÂ.
The above can be viewed by clicking the titles as hyperlinks.
Congrats one and all  great work!
December Teen Patron Contest Winners - 12/28/2003
by Bruce W Niedt
Judging from this monthÂs entries, December is as much a month of gloom as it is of joy for many of our contestants. Still, we got quite a few very strong pieces. Our first-prize winner is talented newcomer Pedro Trevino-Ramirez for his poem, ÂThe Author Returns Home in DecemberÂ. Pedro wins Patron status courtesy of the Pathetic staff, and a credit for Pathetic merchandise courtesy of J.D. Clay. Second prize goes to Caitlin Mullarkey for her poem ÂFor DecemberÂ. And third prize is a tie between Ashley Lane (ÂDecember Speaks  A VillanelleÂ) and Ethan Payne (ÂWinter in AthensÂ). These three will also receive a prize to be determined. Honorable mentions go to:
Chad Bauer, "Anthem to December"
Will Keel, ÂDecemberÂÂ;
Angelene Stevens, "masked in winter [a subtle illumination]";
Laura Stewart, "Infinite Secrets"
There is a change in the Poem of the Day policy: starting this month, only the top prize winners will be posted to Poem of the Day, although we may post an occasional Special Honorable Mention. We invite you, however, to read the honorable mention winners using the above hyperlinks. (Will Keel's poem is currently not posted in his library, but can be found on the December contest thread.) Congrats to all!
November Teen Patron Contest - Addendum - 12/04/2003
by Bruce W Niedt
In my review of the scores and winners of the November Teen Patron Contest, I seem to have overlooked another entrant who earned Honorable Mention: Lauren Tucker for "much like breathing water". Apologies and congratulations to Lauren.
pathetic.org v7.3 - 12/02/2003
by Gavin M Roy
I've released pathetic.org software v7.3. The source code can be found here. The following is a list of the changes in 7.3 from 7.2:
* Member statistics on login
* Away/busy system on private message system
* Member Favorite Poem Lists
* Many various bug fixes
* Query optimization
* Journal Comments
* Multiple Group Moderators
* Explicit content flag
* Additional Site Themes
* Many small tweaks and updates
Explicit Language/Subject Matter, Homepage Changes - 12/01/2003
by Gavin M Roy
As most of you can tell IÂve been updating the site fairly frequently over the last few days. IÂm currently revamping the homepage, adding some new stuff, and making some changes to poetry listings.
The most noticeable is a new field on the poetry submission and journal submission forms labeled ÂExplicit. Members are required to modify any poetry in their libraries that are explicit in language or subject matter, and use this system moving forward. Poetry labeled as explicit will not be displayed on the homepage lists. Poetry labeled as explicit will be in all other listings with a tag that classifies them as such. Thank you for your assistance in this transition. I will be writing a simple filter that will go through all the poetry and look for obviously explicit material in the next few days, to make this transition easier. As always, explicit titles are not allowed due to the open nature of people being able to browse the site. I will also be adding the ability for all site visitors to automatically block all explicit content from listings. This should be done in the near future.
On the homepage, in order to create more diversity in the poetry offered, I have removed 3 of the 4 top categorizations and am adding member favorites and the 10 most recently posted poems. This should help drive more traffic to lesser read poetry. While I understand that people do not like change, as a general rule, I hope you all enjoy and understand the changes that IÂve been making on the site, in order to better the overall experience that is shared by all of our visitors and members.
November Teen Patron Contest Results - 11/28/2003
by Bruce W Niedt
We got a variety of interesting entries for this monthÂs theme, ÂThank you! The runaway winner was Mainon Schwartz, for her poem, Â(the thanks are implicit)Â. Mainon will receive Patron status, courtesy of Gavin Roy and John Heckman, and another prize courtesy of member Lisa Ingram. Second prize goes to Katerina Nix for ÂI Was BrokenÂ. She will also receive a prize to be determined. Because of a lack of concensus among the judges this month, we were unable to declare a third-place winner. However, we do have several Honorable Mentions:
Matt Baillie, Untitled (ÂThank You, Mr. BeaudryÂÂ);
Chad Bauer, ÂTo Kody: Thank You, My Canine ConfidantÂ;
J.P. Davies, ÂAngels Among UsÂ;
Tricia De Gracia, ÂStep One: Wake UpÂ;
Maggie Hall, ÂThe Laughter That Keeps Us Coming Back for MoreÂ;
Ashley Lane, Untitled (ÂTo Sir:Â);
Olivia Martin, ÂEverlasting Imprint of LoveÂ;
Autumn Rayne, ÂOn the spotÂ;
Lindsay Sanders, ÂyouÂre my brightest starÂ;
Angelene Stevens, Âthe motionless waves (are memories of crayons and violins)Â.
Congrats to all, and as always, we will attempt to get all of the above poems on POTD.
The November Teen Patron Contest... - 11/02/2003
by Bruce W Niedt
...is now open! See the contest thread for this month's theme!
Teen Patron Contest Results - October (and an apology!) - 10/28/2003
by Bruce W Niedt
This monthÂs abecedarian contest was a challenge, but many of you rose to the occasion, and we judges had fun reading them. The top two winners were a photo finish, but Lauren Singer emerged as this monthÂs Teen Patron Status winner, for her well-crafted and coherent ÂKissÂ. Second prize (again, a very close second) goes to Wiley Otis for his amusing piece, Âevery little black book needs an indexÂ. And our third prize winner is Mainon Schwartz for ÂUnrestÂ. All the above winners will also receive prizes courtesy of member and poetry journal editor James Byrne. Special honorable mentions goes to Aiko Scott, who admirably pulled off a TRIPLE abecedarian (untitled, Âangels blushingÂ.Â); and Trisha de Gracia, whose ÂAurora garnered votes from four of the seven judges. Other honorable mentions go to:
Andrew Adams, Âthe medication instrumental to the perfect suicideÂ;
Allison Anne, untitled (ÂVile! Wandering X-stasyÂÂ);
Kate Donovan, ÂDanielÂ:
Sarah Joie, ÂMusicÂ;
Toni Odell, ÂIntoleranceÂ;
Angelene Stevens, ÂBlack Mass 969 Devil {of dawning deception}Â;
Caitlyn Thompson, Âirradiant junglesÂ
Nice work, everyone! As always, we will try to get all the above poems on to Poem of the Day, if and when eligible.
[Note: this is a correction of a previous news posting - unfortunately, I tallied the first- and second-place votes incorrectly - only one point separated them. I apologize for any misunderstandings caused.]
September Teen Patron Contest - A Correction - 09/30/2003
by Bruce W Niedt
I apologize for misspelling the name of one of the honorable mention winners: it's Lindsay Sanders, not Saunders. Sorry, Lindsey - I mean Lindsay.... d:-)
September Teen Patron Haiku Contest Winners - 09/27/2003
by Bruce W Niedt
We continue to be impressed with the quality of poetry submitted monthly to this contest. We read a lot of good haiku and senryu this month and since haiku are short, I thought we could print the top winners right here. So we are happy to announce this monthÂs winner, Carolyn Ferreira, for her haiku, ÂShort Attention SpanÂ:
Cold, foggy windows
I stare at raindrops dripping
Conflict unresolved
Carolyn will receive Teen Patron status and a book prize courtesy of John Heckman.
Second prize goes to John Adams, for his untitled haiku number ÂiiÂ:
A new moon rises,
Breathing light through the garden,
Blooming petals bow.
And third prize is a tie (again!) between Allison Anne for ÂBlueÂ:
Endlessly azure
Translucent skies are broken
Raindrops lead the way
 and Morella Zenobia for ÂAugust MorningÂ:
Hot steam from the lake
twisting, crawling up the sky
running from the cold
All the above will also receive book prizes. Morella also get a Special Honorable Mention for having all three of her haiku nominated as top choices of the judges (the others were ÂSoul Mates and ÂNiagraÂ). Special Honorable Mention also goes to David Neubauer for his untitled haiku (Âa boiling hungerÂÂ), which placed a close 4th and was also perhaps the funniest entry (about eating Oreo cookies!); and to Andrew Adams, who like Morella, had all three of his haiku nominated (ÂEsrever ni mrots ÂI think it goes 5-7-5Â, and ÂHaiku for the Pokemon GenerationÂ). Other Honorable Mentions go to:
Andy DeLoach, ÂThe Man in BlackÂ;
Xsorilla Ivanikov, ÂLittle SisterÂ;
Sarah Loreth, ÂWillows and ÂBeautifully BlisteredÂ;
Cole Miller, ÂFight or FlightÂ;
Melissa Marrocco, ÂHaiku #2 [awkward]Â;
David Neubauer, unititled (Âluminous moss poolsÂÂ);
Wiley Otis, ÂIn destructionÂ;
Autumn Rayne, ÂThe Finer ThingsÂ;
Lindsay Saunders, ÂSunset Behind VolcanoÂ.
Congrats to one and all! All the above winners will eventually be posted to Poem of the Day, if and when eligible. (Attention winners: if you want your poem to be posted to Poem of the Day, please be sure itÂs in your library under the title used for the contest.)
Recent Activity - 09/01/2003
by Gavin M Roy
Due to the indignant reaction to people posting more than a small number of poems at any given time, I have now made a modification to the Recent Activity page. From this point forward it will only show the last three poems posted for any given author. If an author chooses to post one hundred poems in ten minutes or one thousand poems in five minutes, it will only show three of their poems in the recent activity page.
August Teen Patron Contest Winners - 08/27/2003
by Bruce W Niedt
Once again, we got such a fine batch of entries on this monthÂs theme, ÂSummer WatersÂ, that we judges had a very hard time coming to a concensus. Only one entrant earned votes from more than one judge, and that was this monthÂs winner, Stephanie Laubscher, for her poem, ÂInnoncent Summer FlingÂ. Stephanie will receive Teen Patron status and a prize to be determined. Second prize is a three-way tie (!) between J. P. Davies for ÂaqueousÂ, Caitlin Mullarkey for Âen etéÂ, and Orion Newell for ÂMonsoon. Third prize goes to Shehan Hayes for ÂMy Family at the Seashore, SummerÂ. These winners will also receive prizes. Honorable Mentions go to:
Andrew Adams, Âdrowning in summerÂ;
John Adams, ÂStatue in the IronmasterÂs HouseÂ;
Kelly Barbolotta, Â18Â;
Dana Cutts, Âproof i like winning more than natureÂ;
Maggie Hall, ÂA Summer WordÂ;
David Neubauer, ÂTriptychÂ;
Aiko Scott, Âthese hilltopsÂ;
Melanie Yarbrough, Untitled (Âhe drank in sipsÂÂ);
Andrew Wong, ÂIt Is EverythingÂ.
Congratulations to all! As always, all the winners and honorable mentions will be posted to Poem of the Day, if and when eligible.
August Teen Patron Contest - 08/01/2003
by Bruce W Niedt
The August contest is now open! Please see the Forum contest thread for rules - there is a theme this month! d:-)
July Teen Patron Contest Winners - 07/28/2003
by Bruce W Niedt
This month was a real horse race! We had so many good entries that the judges had a hard time reaching a concensus, and that made for the equivalent of a photo-finish. But our winner, who earned two first-place votes from the judges, is Kristina Costa for her wonderful poem, "Los Muertos". Kristina will receive patron status and a book prize. Second place goes to Krista Brock for "Devolution", and 3rd place is a tie(!) between Sarah Allard for "The Beauty" and Arielle Lipshaw for "Airport". Both will also get book prizes courtesy of John Heckman. To give you an idea of the crop of excellent poetry we had this month, there are 15 honorable mentions:
Andrew Adams, "_dentity"
John Adams, "If Liberace Had Played the Violin";
Bob Arcania, "Glass Breaking Sound of Stars";
Andy DeLoach, "With Love in Our Hands";
Adrian Gaspar, "Fiera";
Barbara Griffith, "I Close My Eyes and I Don't See You";
Jennifer King, "Political Apricots";
Stephanie Laubscher, "True Love's Last Kiss";
Nicole Miller, "Between the Dark and Dark";
Paul Osterlund, "Blonde Seduction";
Aiko Scott, "Love Letter";
Amanda Stovall, "Dachau";
Indigo Tempesta, "Eve";
Caitlyn Thompson, "Broken Angel";
John Weaver, "Like Palindromes We Repeat Our Actions".
All winners will be posted to Poem of the Day, if and when eligible. Congrats again to all!
June Teen Patron Contest Winners - 06/28/2003
by Bruce W Niedt
Once again, we had a good crop of entries, and picking three winners was tough. But when all the votes were tallied, Mallory Nakamura emerged as this month's winner for her poem, "Shikar". She will receive Teen Patron status and another prize to be determined. Second prize goes to Andrew Adams for "Trouble with the Butter", and third prize to Kristina Costa for "Tulip Flats." Honorable Mentions go to:
John Adams, "The Trenchant Blade"
Kelly Bartolotta, "concerto in f flat"
Charity Caswell, "Lost Verses to (un)Amazing Grace Destruction"
Trisha De Garcia, "Thievery of the Golden Girl"
Adrian Gaspar, "Callisto"
Jennifer King, "A Failed Attempt at Beauty"
Katelyn Meents, "Trapped in a Memory"
Wiley Otis, "The Battle Begins"
Amanda Stovall, "juliet's ashes"
Lauren Tucker, "OCD"
All winners and honorable mentions will be posted on Poem of the Day, if and when they are eligible.
Thanks to all who participated!
Site Downtime - 06/10/2003
by Gavin M Roy
On Monday, June 9th at 6:00am the system suffered a catastrophic failure when our main web server crashed and would not boot up. We have, however been able to retrieve all the data from the server and have moved the web server and database to new hardware. Sorry for the inconvenience.
New Webmail Service Offered - 06/02/2003
by Gavin M Roy
I am pleased to announce the availability of a non-beta webmail service for those of you who would like to have a @pathetic.org email address. Unlike the beta service, this is open to all members but requires a separate annual fee. For $10 a year you can have your own @pathetic.org email address which can be used via our webmail interface, or within Microsoft Outlook / Outlook Express or other email client programs. Features include: unlimited use, advanced web based interface, advanced spam controls, spell checking, and more. For more information feel free to email me at [email protected]. To signup for this service click on ÂSignup for Webmail under the ÂSupport pathetic.org drop down menu.
Scheduled Downtime, Site Changes and Optimization - 06/02/2003
by Gavin M Roy
In an ongoing effort to speed up the site and generally improve things, the site will be down Saturday, June 7th while I transport the new database server to the hosting facility. I expect the site to be down for 6-8 hours. Also to improve response time IÂve temporarily removed some of the more Âcostly functions in regard to processing time, in order to speed up the site. These functions (such as showing your comment counts at the top of ever page) will return when IÂve had the opportunity to optimize them and make them run faster.
May Teen Contest Winners - 05/29/2003
by Bruce W Niedt
Well, all the votes are in, and things ran a little more smoothly this month with a new scoring system and more judges. Once again, we had an impressive batch of good poetry to review, but there were three clear winners. Congratulations to Caitlyn Thompson, this month's winner of Teen Patron status, for her poem, "Human Canvas". Second prize goes to Aiko Scott for "Swingsets at Twilight", and third place to Arielle Lipshaw for "Translation". You will each also receive a prize to be announced soon. Honorable mentions go to:
Adrian Gaspar, "Papyrus"
Ashley Lane, "Girl with a Pearl Earring"
Nicole Miller, "Storm"
Katarina Nix, "Creative Response to Sylvia Plath's 'Fever 103'"
Paul Osterlund, "Two Pieces Make One"
And again, we will post all the above winners in the POTD queue. Congrats to all! d:-)
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