Effective face-to-face (F2F) classroom discussions are those in which learners discover and explore dissonance or inconsistency among themselves. The learners are the ones asking and answering the questions with the instructors serving as guides on the side. Laughter emanates from these noisy discussions and as the semester progresses, friendships are formed. From the fast-paced spontaneity of F2F discussions, how can instructors make the shift to the written mode of an asynchronous discussion form (ADF) in their online classes and be successful? Where is the noise, the laughter, and the socializing in ADF? Can ADFs be structured in a way that learners feel a sense of belonging to a learning community? The purpose of this action research study is to examine the role that social presence plays in asynchronous discussion forums in creating a sense of belonging in an online course. The authors suggest ways to increase social presence and interaction in online courses through the use of an informally structured discussion forum. In their case, the forum is titled the Anything Else Cafe. The structure of the Anything Else Cafe simulates, to an extent, what occurs in traditional F2F classrooms. The authors also discuss the limitations of this method. [This is a reprint of an article originally published in "Distance Learning" v9 n3 p33-42 2012.]