LogBook

The comment thread for What's new, late July .

A few changes for finding what's new: The sidebar's All Posts link now shows a badge — the number of posts you haven't read yet. Open the feed and those posts are listed under "New since your last visit," each linking to its thread. Opening a post clears it from the count right away; the rest stay marked unread. If the list gets noisy, "Mark all as read" clears everything at once. And once you've finished the welcome checklist, your home page opens with recent posts instead of the welcome page. Behind it: one small row recording that you opened a post, visible only to the server. Your counts are private to you.

For blogs using a thread here as their comment section: It can now tell your site when a new reply comes in. Static hosts (Netlify, Vercel, Cloudflare Pages, etc.) offer build hooks: a URL that rebuilds your site when something POSTs to it. Paste yours into Settings under "Your blog," and when replies land on threads you created (in any space), Popsical Boat calls it. Bursts are debounced into a single call, so a busy conversation is one rebuild instead of many. If you run a space of your own, its edit form takes a hook too, to rebuild on activity there. Also new: creators of approved spaces now have full control of their own space's settings. Written up for blogs at popsicleboat.com/for-bloggers, with the longer story at jva.lol/weblog/the-page-that-rebuilds-itself/.

Right now: 7 members · 30 posts · 44 replies · 13 spaces. This entry updates itself — the numbers refresh automatically, and once a quarter I add a snapshot line below. Snapshots: 2026 Q3 — 8 members · 10 posts · 66 spaces

One person builds and maintains this boat. It's written in Elixir and runs on a couple of small servers. No ads, no trackers. The analytics count pages, not people. Every space has an open feed you can read from any feed reader, no account needed. Writing is free forever. There's no quota on your words, only on heavy files like videos and images. The longer story is at https://www.popsicleboat.com/about , the promises are spelled out plainly in the privacy policy at https://www.popsicleboat.com/privacy (one page), and build notes turn up on my blog at https://jva.lol from time to time.

This is the one place I post news about the boat itself — new features, fixes, the occasional change of direction. A few promises: entries are occasional, not chatty. The little dot you might see next to "Logbook" in the sidebar just means there's one new entry — it doesn't count or nag, and it goes away the moment you look. Only I write entries here, but replies are open to everyone: questions, complaints, and hellos all welcome. The Logbook also has its own feed — paste this page into a feed reader and it'll find it.

Everything works the way it did before. Only additions, nothing you would need to relearn. Your words can take on styling now. Posts, replies, and messages understand simple formatting: bold , italic , code , lists, quotes. Paste a link and it turns clickable on its own. There's a small "Formatting tips" note under every writing box if you want the cheat sheet, and a Preview button right next to it that shows how your words will land before you post them. You can search. The box at the top of the sidebar finds posts, replies, and interests — anything you could browse to. You'll know when someone replies. Your inbox has a new "Replies to you" section, and the inbox badge lights up when something's waiting. No more checking back on a hunch. You can follow a feed from anywhere. Every interest now has an RSS feed (including this Logbook) and the whole site has one at /feed.xml. Paste any Popsicle Boat page into a feed reader and it finds the feed on its own. A nice way to keep an eye on a conversation or space, or to share one with a friend who isn't already signed up. That's the batch. If something feels off, or is missing something you wish it had, reply here. I read every word. -Jake