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This is where the talking happens: Easier way to post to my blog with comments already setup

This is the comment section for My comment section is static HTML.

This is the companion thread for 23 languages, one I can check. Replies here also show up on the blog post itself.

I wrote about this in a little more detail here, but basically trying to reduce the steps necessary to making this work

If you haven't poked around here, short summary:

Comment area for your content, no libraries to import, all content is owned by you stored in JSON, no ads, no tracking. Let's get back to the original communicative and non-corporate web (modernized though), eh?

BTW if you're curious, this is all built in Elixir, Phoenix, and LiveView. If you don't know what all that is, don't worry. (I think it's pretty cool tech though and love to talk about it, so… if you're curious let's get coffee? literally or just online. I'm an open book.)

Companion to Adding a Claude skill to make a new blog entry discussion thread as easy as possible.

Every thread's public replies are now plain JSON at the thread's address plus /replies.json. You can download it, do what you want. The content is yours even if this site vanishes. More in the link.

https://jva.lol/weblog/your-site-can-keep-the-comments/

This is the comment section for we're all terminally online. I know I am. I know you are too if you're reading this.

Companion thread for I hid something fun on my blog

Companion thread for AI is good. Scary good. Scary in a good way..

Replies here also show up on the blog post itself.

This is the companion thread for I've made posting here with a companion thread on PopsicleBoat automatic. Replies here also show up on the blog post itself.

Continuing my theme of acknowledging that I needn't care if anyone gives a shit about anything I post online.....and ironically posting about it online!

I present to you: "No one cares, and that's a good thing!" a new node in my Digital Garden (reluctantly posted to this Blogging category until there's a Digital Garden one.... 😛)

https://travisbriggs.com/garden/no-one-cares-good/

PopsicleBoat's new-posts badge needed some work. Details in this link.

https://jva.lol/weblog/a-glance-is-not-a-reading/

I wrote up how jva.lol uses threads aboard as its comment section: the blog post links to a thread here (a few lines of html), and that's the whole integration. No widget, no iframe, no tracker. A reader who wants the discussion follows the link, and the hosting page itself stays static.

https://jva.lol/weblog/popsicle-boat-as-a-comment-section/

This is the comment section for The post you (almost) didn't publish.

This is the comment section for Why did I call it PopsicleBoat?.

This is the companion thread for My new post script. Replies here also show up on the blog post itself.

This is the companion thread for Commenting now works with two redirects. Replies here also show up on the blog post itself.

This is the companion thread for Posting here, start to finish. Replies here also show up on the blog post itself.

I added the option of notifications, but it was buggy. So I fixed it. Full story in the link.

https://jva.lol/weblog/the-notification-that-gave-up-after-a-minute/

I added a build hook so your (and my) site can automatically rebuild itself when there's a new comment or post.

https://jva.lol/weblog/the-page-that-rebuilds-itself/

I had a painful bug dealing with video chat. A feature I'm proud of and worked hard on so wanted to get right. Details in the link.

https://jva.lol/weblog/the-panel-that-closed-itself/

New on the blog: a logged-out thread page went from 843 KB to 468. The interesting cut was lazy-loading the entire WebRTC call system behind a signed-in gate; the embarrassing one was three 923×1352 PNGs rendering at 40 pixels. Found along the way: a favicon that had been quietly 404ing for months, and gzip files nobody was serving.

https://jva.lol/weblog/putting-the-boat-on-a-diet/

Companion to my post: https://jva.lol/weblog/collapsible-sidebar/

I wrote up a bug where a video call connected fine — video both ways — but the call panel stayed hidden. It came down to a race condition, with LiveView's DOM patching as a red herring along the way. Full story: https://jva.lol/weblog/the-panel-that-hid-itself/

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

Yesterday I added a small link under the language picker: "Does this read wrong?" Today it brought the first report, about the Ukrainian translation, from someone who left no address.

They said the translation is ridiculous in many places, especially where names get inserted into sentences. They're right. Ukrainian changes word endings depending on how a word is used, and this site drops names into sentences in whatever form they were typed. The fix is a known pattern (put a category word the translation controls in front of the name) and it's now written up and queued. Russian gets the same fix at the same time, since it has the same grammar and the same bug.

To whoever sent it: thank you. You left no way to reach you, so this post is the reply. The link is there because my checks can't catch this kind of thing. Only readers can, and you did.

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: 17 members · 43 posts · 65 replies · 14 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

A Digital Garden is more like a wiki than a blog. Instead of writing a perfect blog post that is impeccably crafted and wholly expresses a single idea, you can take notes and musings on whatever things you're thinking about. Or things that are in the news or being debated. Things you've always wanted to share your opinion on, or stuff you're working on.

The way it works is not technical, the technical part doesn't matter at all. The point is the mindset shift, of thinking of your Garden as something that's living, that changes. Nothing is ever finished.

The post that started it all for me:

https://maggieappleton.com/garden-history