diff --git a/plugins/smolnet.py b/plugins/smolnet.py
index c571521..9a7b513 100644
--- a/plugins/smolnet.py
+++ b/plugins/smolnet.py
@@ -123,7 +123,9 @@ FOOTNOTE_REF = re.compile(r"\[\^([^\]]+)\]")
 LINKREF_DEF = re.compile(r"^\[(\d+)\]:", re.MULTILINE)
 
 # The opening line of a GitHub/Obsidian-style callout, "> [!kind] title".
-CALLOUT = re.compile(r"^([ ]{0,3}>[ ]?)\[!(\w+)\][ \t]*(.*)$", re.MULTILINE)
+# The trailing newline is part of the match, so a marker with no label can be
+# dropped whole instead of leaving the quote to open on a blank line.
+CALLOUT = re.compile(r"^([ ]{0,3}>[ ]?)\[!(\w+)\][ \t]*(.*)\n?", re.MULTILINE)
 
 
 def rot13(text):
@@ -334,7 +336,7 @@ def rewrite_callouts(text, kinds):
     The HTML build renders these as boxes (an <aside>, via a Markdown
     extension in the site itself). gemtext has nothing to draw a box with, and
     a quote is the one block it does set apart, so the passage stays one; only
-    the marker would otherwise print literally as "[!ontology]". Kinds not in
+    the marker would otherwise print literally as "[!aside]". Kinds not in
     `kinds` are left alone, matching the HTML side, which also only boxes the
     kinds it was told about.
     """
@@ -347,9 +349,12 @@ def rewrite_callouts(text, kinds):
         if kind not in kinds:
             return match.group(0)
         title = match.group(3).strip() or kinds[kind]
+        if not title:
+            # No label: the marker line goes, the quote stays.
+            return ""
         # The label as a paragraph of its own inside the quote, so it can't run
         # into the passage's first sentence.
-        return "%s**%s**\n>" % (match.group(1), title)
+        return "%s**%s**\n>\n" % (match.group(1), title)
 
     return CALLOUT.sub(sub, text)