diff --git a/pb_public/status.html b/pb_public/status.html
index 3ddebe3..a57e8b2 100644
--- a/pb_public/status.html
+++ b/pb_public/status.html
@@ -206,10 +206,33 @@ function statusPill(s){
   return '<span class="pill no">' + esc(t) + "</span>";
 }
 
-async function api(path){
-  var r = await fetch(path, { headers: { Authorization: tok } });
+// Takes the options its callers have always passed.
+//
+// It used to accept only `path`, so every write on this page -- publishing a
+// notice, switching one off -- was quietly performed as a GET. The read
+// succeeded (the collection is publicly listable), so the page reported
+// "zveřejněno" and nothing had been written. A notice about the anime tab being
+// down never reached anyone.
+async function api(path, opts){
+  opts = opts || {};
+  var init = { method: opts.method || "GET", headers: { Authorization: tok } };
+  if (opts.body !== undefined) {
+    init.headers["Content-Type"] = "application/json";
+    init.body = JSON.stringify(opts.body);
+  }
+  var r = await fetch(path, init);
   if (r.status === 401) { logout(); throw new Error("401"); }
-  if (!r.ok) throw new Error("HTTP " + r.status);
+  if (!r.ok) {
+    // PocketBase explains itself in the body; say what it said rather than a
+    // bare status, or a permission problem looks the same as an outage.
+    var detail = "";
+    try {
+      var j = await r.json();
+      if (j && j.message) detail = ": " + j.message;
+    } catch (_) {}
+    throw new Error("HTTP " + r.status + detail);
+  }
+  if (r.status === 204) return null;
   return r.json();
 }