A gentle guide to the pond 🐢

Our News Feed aggregates uplifting stories from 10 trusted positive-news sources (Reasons to be Cheerful, Upworthy, Good Good Good, Vox Future Perfect, Colossal, Atlas Obscura, Happy Eco News, YES! Magazine, Fast Company Impact, and My Modern Met).

• Only articles with images make it in — clean cards, no clutter.
• HTML tags and character codes are stripped for a peaceful read.
• Each source is capped so no one outlet dominates.
• The order is shuffled with a minimum gap of 5 sources between repeats.
• The homepage previews 3 stories; tap Show more to expand the full feed.
• Filter by category, refresh anytime, and click through to read at the source.

The Waters is our social feed. Turtles share good news, wins, kindness, and encouragement. You can post to two audiences:

• The Pond — posts visible only to Turtles you're followed by (your circle).
• 🌊The Whole Ocean — public posts anyone can see.

Toggle audience in the composer. Pond-only posts are tagged with a 🌊 chip. You can attach a shared news article to any post to shellebrate a story with your community.

Each day, the post that receives the most Turtle Power in the last 24 hours is crowned the Daily Ray of Sunshine — highlighted with a sunny badge at the top of its card. It's the community's way of lifting up the brightest ripple of the day.

Post kindly, tap generously — anyone's story can become the Ray. 🌞

Tap the 🐢 on any article or post to send Turtle Power — a ripple of appreciation.

• One tap per turtle, per article or post.
• Taps on news stories feed the community-wide leaderboard (Top Stories on your profile).
• Taps on posts grow the author's Shell Level.
• Top Stories are snapshotted, so leaderboard entries stay even after articles cycle out of the feed.

Sign in to send Turtle Power.

As a Turtle's posts collect Turtle Power, their shell evolves. The badge next to their name shows their current level:

• 🥚 Hatchling — 0–9 taps. Just cracked the shell.
• 🌱 Shellfellow — 10+ taps. Getting the swim of things.
• 🐚 Reef Roamer — 50+ taps. Making waves.
• 🌊 Sea Turtle — 200+ taps. A steady, kind current.
• 🌟 Wise Tortoise — 500+ taps. Trusted voice in the pond.
• 🐢 Ancient One — 1,000+ taps. Legend of the sea.

Tap your Shell Level badge on your profile to see your live progress.

Visit the Leader Board page to celebrate the most active and beloved turtles in the pond. Rankings are updated from live activity across the site and include multiple ways to shine:

• Shell Legends — most Turtle Power received on posts.
• Steady Flippers — longest active Kind Streaks.
• Most Beloved — turtles with the most followers.
• Wave Makers — most posts shared in The Waters.
• Ripple Makers — most comments left on fellow turtles' posts.
• Generous Currents — most Turtle Power given to others.
• Elders of the Pond — oldest, most trusted accounts.
• All-Around Turtles — a blended score combining every kind of activity.

The Good Turtle is where the Good News Turtle's adventures play out on screen. Every video is an episode, and episodes live inside categories — different varieties of adventure like Ocean Adventures, Planet Wins, Acts of Kindness, and Turtle Folklore.

• Tap a category pill to swim through just that collection.
• Tap any episode to open the full-screen player — works on phones and desktop.
• Use Previous / Next (or your arrow keys) to watch a series in order. Esc closes the player.

Episodes are curated and posted by the Good News Turtle crew, so the adventures stay hopeful and ad-free.

Turtle Dreams is an open wall where any visitor — even one without an account — can post a dream, a wish, or an aspiration and let it drift out on the current. No sign-in needed; every turtle's dream is welcome.

• Write up to 500 characters and release it to the wall.
• The homepage shows the 3 most recent dreams; the full wall lives on its own page.
• Tap any meaningful word inside a dream to instantly see every other turtle dreaming about the same thing.
• The word-filter works on both the homepage cards and the full Turtle Dreams page.

Speak your dream out loud — you never know who's dreaming it too. 🌙

Your Kind Streak counts the consecutive days you've spread good vibes on Good News Turtle.

Ways to keep it alive each day:

• Post a story in The Waters (Pond or Ocean)
• Leave a Ripple (comment) on a fellow turtle's post
• Tap 🐢 Turtle Power on a post
• Follow a new Turtle Friend

Miss a day and your streak gently resets — the ocean is patient. 🌊

Days roll over at midnight Central Time (CST/CDT).

Comments on Good News Turtle are called Ripples. Every kind reply sends a little wave of encouragement out into the pond — and keeps your Kind Streak alive.

Follow your favorite Turtles to see their posts on your Friends Wall. Your profile's Turtle Friends section shows two simple lists:

• Following — turtles you follow.
• Followers — turtles who follow you.

The Friends Wall (The Pond) aggregates both Pond and Ocean posts from turtles you follow, sorted by most recent. A Follow / Following button lives on every profile and every post card, so it's easy to build your pond.

Invite friends to join the water with the Invite an Egg tool on your profile. Enter an email and we'll send a warm, branded invitation from Good News Turtle.

• Welcome to Good News Turtle — a warm hello when you sign up.
• New follower — someone just followed you.
• Invite an Egg — the invitation you send to friends.
• Password reset — via the Forgot Password page.
• Auth emails (email change, magic link, reauthentication) are all branded.

Every email includes a one-click unsubscribe link.

Look for the small icons — tap any of them for a quick guide:

• Kind Streak popover (homepage + profile) — how to keep your streak alive and when days roll over.
• Turtle Power popover (homepage + profile) — how taps work and how they grow your Shell Level.
• Shell Level popover (profile) — the full ladder with your current progress.
• Friends Wall popover (profile) — how the wall aggregates posts from Turtles you follow.
• Turtle Light Mode toggle (profile only) — switch to a warm, low-blue-light "Turtle Friend Beach Lights" theme. You must be signed in to see the toggle.

• Sign in with email or Google.
• Every turtle gets a handle (@yourname) and a profile at /turtle/@handle.
• Row-level security protects your posts, follows, and taps — you own your data.
• Leaked-password protection is enabled at sign-up.
• Forgot your password? Use the Forgot Password link on the sign-in page.

Good News Turtle is 100% free and intentionally ad-free — full access to every pond, ripple, and story at no cost. To keep the servers humming and the vibes calm, we welcome kind support from turtles who love the pond.