diff --git a/cosmic rage/worlds/plugins/output_functions.xml b/cosmic rage/worlds/plugins/output_functions.xml
index 84c23cf..7eb8895 100644
--- a/cosmic rage/worlds/plugins/output_functions.xml	
+++ b/cosmic rage/worlds/plugins/output_functions.xml	
@@ -407,11 +407,7 @@ end
 -- Note: text should use "\r\n" line endings, not bare "\n" - the plain
 -- Win32 Edit control that backs the notepad doesn't recognise bare "\n"
 -- as a line break for scrolling/line-count purposes.
-last_append_clock = 0
-
 function SmartAppendToNotepad(title, text)
-  last_append_clock = os.clock()
-
   local edit = find_notepad_edit(title)
   local was_at_end = true
   local sel_start, sel_end, first_visible
@@ -459,36 +455,49 @@ end
 -- while a separate notepad window has focus (confirmed by Nick Gammon on
 -- the MUSHclient forum), so this can't be event-driven - polling every
 -- 0.2s is the safe, non-hooking way to catch it.
+--
+-- GetFocus() genuinely reports "not focused" for a single poll tick now
+-- and then, even while the user never left the window and nothing was
+-- just appended (confirmed via logging - one case was 7+ seconds after
+-- the last append) - just noise from MUSHclient's own UI thread being
+-- momentarily busy. A single such blip was enough to make this treat
+-- the very next tick as "just switched to the window" and jump, on
+-- practically every incoming line. Requiring several *consecutive*
+-- unfocused ticks before the next focused tick counts as a genuine
+-- switch filters that out.
 was_output_focused = false
+unfocused_streak = 0
+FOCUS_DEBOUNCE_TICKS = 3  -- ~0.6s of sustained unfocus at the 0.2s poll rate
 
 function poll_output_focus()
  if GetVariable("jump_to_end_on_focus") == "0" then
   was_output_focused = false
+  unfocused_streak = 0
   return
  end
  local edit = find_notepad_edit("output")
  if not edit then
   was_output_focused = false
+  unfocused_streak = 0
   return
  end
  local focused = GetFocus()
  -- Compare by string representation, not raw "==": Alien's pointer
  -- returns are full userdata objects, so two separate calls returning
  -- the same real HWND don't reliably compare equal with "==" (which
- -- fell back to identity comparison), causing spurious "just gained
- -- focus" edges and repeated jump-to-end even while focus never moved.
+ -- falls back to identity comparison).
  local is_focused = (tostring(focused) == tostring(edit))
- -- Skip the jump if a SmartAppendToNotepad call happened very recently:
- -- AppendToNotepad's own SetSel/ReplaceSel appears to momentarily
- -- perturb GetFocus() around each append, which was making this poll
- -- see a spurious "just gained focus" edge - and jump to the end - on
- -- practically every incoming line, even though the user never left
- -- the window.
- local recent_append = (os.clock() - last_append_clock) < 0.5
- if is_focused and not was_output_focused and not recent_append then
-  jump_notepad_to_end(edit)
+
+ if is_focused then
+   if not was_output_focused and unfocused_streak >= FOCUS_DEBOUNCE_TICKS then
+     jump_notepad_to_end(edit)
+   end
+   unfocused_streak = 0
+   was_output_focused = true
+ else
+   unfocused_streak = unfocused_streak + 1
+   was_output_focused = false
  end
- was_output_focused = is_focused
 end
 
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