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Post composition

Simple message composition

The CLI permits the specification of simple messages, using the post verb,

DistributionCLI post <options>

The following options are defined for post...

Provide configuration

-c, --config-file           Required. Path to the config file.
-f, --filter                Regular expression filter for network short codes.

Retrieve post content from a post list format source file

-s, --source-file           Path or url to a source file containing posts.
-o, --offset                Offset (index) of a post within the source file. (Leave blank to send all posts in the source file.)

Fashion a post from command line parameters

-m, --message               Simple message text.
-l, --link                  Link for this message.
-i, --images                URIs to images, semi-colon separated (;)
-d, --image-descriptions    Image descriptions, semi-colon separated (;)
-t, --tags                  A list of tags (without # prefix), semi-colon separated (;)

Application information

--help                      Display this help screen.
--version                   Display version information.

Source file

To provide a source file with posts, see: Post list format

Message options

  • Provide message text with the -m option
  • Provide a link to accompany the message content with the -l option.
  • Provide a list of paths to images for the post with the -i option.
  • Provide descriptions of the images with the -d option.
  • Provide a list of tags to accompany the message with the -t option.

Note that lists should be semi-colon (;) separated.

A simple example:

DistributionCLI post -c path/to/config.json -m "this is a test"

Message composition

Posts are made up of a number of parts, each of which could be rendered different for a specific social network (although by default, the content you provide will apply to any).

Each part can be one of several types:

SocialMessagePart Description
Text Ordinary text that will appear in the post
AccountReference Reference to an account, eg. @instantiator
Tag An individual tag, without the # prefix, eg. Caturday
Link A link that this post points to

The parts are combined and formatted during posting to ensure that the text will all fit and flow correctly according to the conventions of the social network that the post is being targeted at.

If necessary, multiple posts are created, and linked together as a thread.

Thread formatting

Some social networks (Mastodon, Twitter) lend themselves conceptually to threading more easily than others.

Each social network has a different set of character limits.

If you manage to post a thread longer than the post limit for other networks (eg. a Facebook post longer than 63206 characters, somehow!), subsequent parts of the message will be posted as comments on the main post.

Some items (ie. tags, links) will either be moved to the first post, duplicated across all posts, or may be handled differently depending on the social network.

Network First post Subsequent posts Tags Link Images Images per post Image size limit
Mastodon 500 500 All posts First post Front-loaded 4 TBC
Discord 2000 2000 First post First post First post 10 TBC
Facebook 63206 8000 First post Special First post ∞ 10Mb
LinkedIn 3000 1250 First post First post First post 20 TBC
Twitter 280 280 All posts First post Front-loaded 4 TBC

The formatter will wrap words on each post. If a post would exceed the limit available to it, it wraps the next word into the next post.

The limit allows space for:

  1. The link, if it should appear in this post
  2. An index indicator (if there's more than 1 post)
  3. Any tags that will fit, if the tags should appear on the post

By default, tags will not exceed 50% of the allowed character space. If not all tags will fit on a post, a random selection of the available tags is used.

Images

As described above, images are assigned to the various posts that make up a thread.

  • For Mastodon, images will be assigned starting from the first post, at 4 per post.
  • For Facebook, all images (unlimited) will be assigned to the first post.
  • For LinkedIn, all images will be assigned to the first post, up to 9.
  • For Discord, all images will be assigned to the first post, up to 10.

A message that is to be posted across all 4 of these networks should be constrained by the lowest common denominator, ie. a maximum of 9 images.

Breaks

You can force the formatter to break to a new post by including the special break word: $$

Facebook notes

  • The formatter for Facebook posts does not include the link in the text of the post, as it is included separately as a special property of the post.
  • Facebook does not have the concept of threads. If the content for the first post exceeds the limit, subsequent posts are made as comments.
  • Instead of forcing a new post, the break word $$ creates a paragraph break with 2 newline characters.

LinkedIn notes

  • LinedIn does not have the concept of threads. If the content for the first post exceeds the limit, subsequent posts are made as comments.
  • Instead of forcing a new post, the break word $$ creates a paragraph break with 2 newline characters.