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Source. The sentinel mechanism, the configuration block, the strftime date format, the field names and the order the entry is written in are all read out of guestbook.pl and addguest.html from Matt's Script Archive, downloaded 2 August 2026 and preserved in reference/3-conversation/guestbook/. That code is copyright 1996 Matthew M. Wright, its license forbids redistribution without prior permission, and so none of it is shipped here: the behavior is reimplemented from scratch and the config block is quoted as documentation. The entry numbers, the drive-by signatures and the traffic figures are from live demo books on smartgb.com captured the same day, as is the frame palette: #CCD0D6 outer, #F4F4F4 panel, #FBFBFB header strip, #DFDFDF hairline, #555555 labels.

This guestbook is real and it is not a file you own, which is the gap. Signatures go to a Netlify Blobs store through netlify/functions/guestbook.mjs, the same footing as this site's hit counter: no third party, no account, no cookies. It is still a store behind an API, which is the arrangement this plate is arguing against. The Take the file button is the part that closes the gap, because it hands you the actual guestbook.html, sentinel included. Everything is escaped on the way in, entries are capped at 600 characters, and there is a rate limit and a language filter. Connection addresses are hashed into a counter bucket for that rate limit and are never stored next to a signature.

The smilies are Mazeguy Smilies, the basic set plus a few from the big set, by Mike Perrucci at mazeguy.net, which the guide already links from its neighbors list. The page carries Copyright 2003-2026 Mike Perrucci and states no license, so none is claimed here. They are rehosted rather than hotlinked, which is this guide's rule for every asset. The basic set is static at 15 by 15; the animated ones run 4 to 8 frames. Shortcodes like :wave: are matched against a fixed list and swapped for those files, and because every field is escaped before it is stored, nothing a visitor types can become markup.

Deliberately absent. When the first guestbook appeared, how many ever existed, and any claim that spam specifically is what ended them: none of that is in these captures. What is here is one script, its defaults, and a handful of live books, and the plate does not reach past them.

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