Live, archived, illustrative: what five replies taught us about a changing web project

We asked a practical question while introducing The Only Billboard: how should an old screenshot describe a product that visibly changes hands? Five relevant replies to our Indie Hackers discussion helped us separate three different jobs. This is a note from the team building the project, based on that conversation and our own page checks on October 25, 2026.

The concrete product is deliberately small. One virtual billboard carries one live creative. An approved paid takeover replaces it and moves the earlier placement into public History. RELVE, Brick500 and Drummond Hearing are the three archived paid chapters. IOCUS is currently in the live frame after the fourth takeover at $4; the next takeover is $5. That sequence makes the presentation problem easy to see. A genuine earlier capture can still mislead a visitor who reads it as the current state.

First, the date needs to travel with the picture. A caption can disappear when a directory displays or crops an image. A visible capture date inside a future export would preserve that context better. Keeping the timestamp in the filename also helps the team find the right asset. We already used a dated capture file in our refresh requests; we have not shipped an automatic screenshot-refresh system.

Second, a test illustration and a past paid placement need different labels. Both can be old, but they are not the same kind of evidence. A date alone does not tell a visitor whether anybody actually bought the placement. Our current public History has numbered paid records, prices and replacement moments. A test mockup should be described as an illustration rather than slipped into that paid sequence.

Third, a screenshot should have somewhere clear to lead. We checked the live History page in response to a question about stable record links. Today, its three creative images link to the advertisers’ destinations. The page does not currently expose a separate per-record archive URL. We answered that limitation directly. For now, the homepage is the place to inspect the live frame, and /history is the place to inspect the earlier paid records. A stable record link is a useful idea, not a feature we can claim already exists.

The replies also suggested an evergreen overview for directories we cannot update ourselves. That could explain the one-frame mechanic while a separate dated capture documents a particular moment. We are considering that distinction rather than claiming it has already solved the problem.

There is one operational lesson we can apply immediately: a sent update request is not a refreshed public page. Two curator-controlled previews still need replacement, so we keep them marked unfinished. Our visitors deserve the same precision when we describe the product.

Explore the live board: https://theonlybillboard.com/
Browse the three earlier paid chapters: https://theonlybillboard.com/history
Original discussion: https://www.indiehackers.com/post/how-do-you-date-screenshots-when-your-product-keeps-changing-hands-a5ad25ee89

The billboard is a virtual web project. Placement lasts until the next approved paid takeover; there is no guaranteed minimum display time, traffic or sales. A paid placement is not an endorsement of the advertiser.