TextLog
Ranked 5 of 12 blogging platforms by recommenders
Recommended as a calm, text-only microblog with no likes, counters or engagement tricks, and a simple, fast interface. Critics raise latency from its European servers and the 280-character limit.
Recommended as a calm, text-only microblog with no likes, counters or engagement tricks, and a simple, fast interface. Critics raise latency from its European servers and the 280-character limit.
20 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 16
- criticize it
- 4
- approval share
- 80%
Recommended in 3 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 16 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 4 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 3 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, not met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Calm, simple, fast UI
“I really like the UI of the site, its calm and soothing.”
Comment from 8 Aug 2026 in “textlog – A quiet, text-only microblogging platform” “It's blazing fast too. Good job.”
Comment from 9 Aug 2026 in “textlog – A quiet, text-only microblogging platform” “Simple, open-source, nice UI.”
Comment from 7 Aug 2026 in “textlog – A quiet, text-only microblogging platform” No likes, counters or engagement tricks
“No likes, no karma points, no unnecessary notifications, no JS "X new posts" popups, no engagement trickery, no gamification.”
Comment from 8 Aug 2026 in “textlog – A quiet, text-only microblogging platform” “It tries to be unconventional and against all of the engagement tactics”
Comment from 18 Aug 2026 in “Ask HN: Does anyone else feel like nothing matters anymore?” Constraint speeds up posting
“I feel that this choice often makes it psychologically easier for users to post something quickly”
Comment from 7 Aug 2026 in “textlog – A quiet, text-only microblogging platform” “I am enjoying very much the constraint and it hasn't hindered any progress.”
Comment from 20 Aug 2026 in “HTML Can Do That” Open source with API
“If you want to try it, we have an API you can pull your user feed from!”
Comment from 7 Aug 2026 in “textlog – A quiet, text-only microblogging platform” “Simple, open-source, nice UI.”
Comment from 7 Aug 2026 in “textlog – A quiet, text-only microblogging platform”
Other blogging platforms people recommend
The four most recommended other blogging platforms, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Substack | 87 | 161 | 35% | 12 | 3 yrs5 owners | — |
| Leaflet (leaflet.pub) | 22 | 1 | 96% | 11 | — | Approved |
| Ghost CMS | 21 | 4 | 84% | 7 | — | Approved |
| Bear Blog | 18 | 4 | 82% | 9 | — | Approved |
| TextLogThis page | 16 | 4 | 80% | 3 | — | — |
What people said
19 of the 24 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“their European infra meant too much latency for my US-based browsing”
“At times it felt (the content especially) like the early days of twitter.”
“I finally made an account as I really like this change.”
“I found it strangely compelling.”
“I am enjoying very much the constraint and it hasn't hindered any progress.”
“It tries to be unconventional and against all of the engagement tactics”
“You moved the goalposts from "The simplest way to build a high-quality website" to "there are benefits to using Astro".”
“It's blazing fast too. Good job.”
“No likes, no karma points, no unnecessary notifications, no JS "X new posts" popups, no engagement trickery, no gamification.”
“the "individual notes instead of blogs" idea is an important UX decision”
“I really like the UI of the site, its calm and soothing.”
“I feel that this choice often makes it psychologically easier for users to post something quickly”
“If you want to try it, we have an API you can pull your user feed from!”
“there seems to be no way to change the theme”
“Impressed they already had a download!”
“I click on that link and again the same screen, ask for a magic link”
“I just dont think being 280 chars adds anything other than resulting in people posting with pagination as per X 1/3.”
“I really like this approach.”
“Simple, open-source, nice UI.”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.