Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Facebook, and blogs… I love them all! But recently I’ve been noticing more and more repetition in my feeds: Tweets mentioning IG pic, IG pics mentioning blog posts, Facebook and Twitter reminders about that post from the other day… and I wonder: What’s the etiquette in this new social media situation? How many ways can we mention a post before it gets annoying?
My (totally arbitrary) routine is:
- WordPress sends out an automated tweet every time I blog a post. Very rarely I’ll do a second follow up tweet later, “Hey, did you see my post about _______?” , especially if I’m organizing a challenge/theme/chat and want to spread the word to people in all time zones!
- I don’t mention blog posts on Instagram, although I see an increasing number of people going that route.
- I don’t tweet my Instagram pics, because I get a little tired of my Twitter feed being all external links… but then, a friend who doesn’t have IG mentioned she likes when people tweet the pics as well!
- I keep my sewing almost entirely of Facebook, but that’s just because I use FB mostly to connect with family and long-time friends, not sewists!
Do you cross-post on social media? Why, or why not? And how do you feel when you see multiple reminders for a single post? There’s no right or wrong answer here – I’m just curious to hear your thoughts!
Crafting A Rainbow 
My blog posts get tweeted automatically once and as I know lots of people don’t like bloglovin links I often put another one up after that with a direct link. I don’t link between blog and IG. I tweet my morning meare everyday picture as I know a few of the people who follow along with that are only on twitter. I barely use fb at all but not really for sewing stuff.
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Sounds like you’ve got a system that works for you! Do you have a fav kind of social media? The one you’ll check first every morning?
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Oh I must add I hate it when people have it set up to tweet every time they pin something or post a pic to fb. So annoying!
I tend to check twitter and blogs but I also do love Instagram. I’m a fairly new users to IG tho – maybe if I followed more people I would use it more?
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Some people seem to have tweets set to autopost everytime they comment on Pattern Review? I find that baffling and annoying!!!
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I’m guilty of everything you just wrote about LOL! Soooo I guess that means I’m okay with it 😉 I always thought that if you’re a blogger, you should be using social media to promote yourself. Because seriously, WHY the hell else would I even have a twitter account haha! It’s for promotion (under multiple definitions). But then again, I don’t consider myself a hobbyist. I’ll fully admit to taking online courses on how to build up your blog as a brand (because someday I want to be a real designer with a “real” job), and I do what’s suggested as the “industry standard”. Also, if you have sponsor agreements it’s common courtesy to give them shout-outs routinely. They want to see that you’re actively promoting yourself.
If someone is on a social media platform all day long, they’re going to notice when people post multiple times. But for normal people who check in just once a day, or occasionally, they’re going to miss what you’re posting if you’re only posting once a day. Especially on platforms like twitter and instagram where it’s a CONSTANT stream of new content.
The beauty of social media is, if you don’t like what people are posting, you can unfollow! I don’t get offended when that happens. There’s some people I won’t follow on instagram because I don’t like baby pictures, so I’ll follow them on twitter instead lol. Do whatever feels right for you. If people like it, they’re follow you. If they don’t, then they wont. It’s that simple.
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Yes to all of that! I am completely uninterested in making my sewing into a job – frankly, I make enough in my day job that sewing isn’t going to rival that. But for people like you who want to make it into a living, then all of that strategic stuff makes sense. I unfollow people quite frequently if I’m not interesting in their pics – babies, health/fitness, religious quotes, endless uninteresting self-promotion… If I don’t regularly feel happy when that person’s tweet/pic/post turn up, then it’s easy to unfollow. I hope people do the same for me! 🙂
Interesting that you mention how people consume social media… I binge in the am and evening, but usually manage to read all the blog posts, IG pics and Tweets that I missed that day. Maybe that’s why I notice the repetition so much? I’m getting all the repeats at once.
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I’m still working this out myself. I created a cosplay Facebook page (but because I don’t have a critical mass of followers there yet, I still use FB to post things). Most of the FB posts are enjoyed by friends and family who appreciate the updates – but I am not actively using FB (personal) to connect with sewists. I joined twitter to build a follower base (and to also talk to my friends) so I use it to share things that are relevant to my geek/cosplay/sewing/museum networks on twitter.
I was persuaded to get instagram. I use instagram and twitter and Facebook to post updates on costume and sewing projects. Most of the mundane updates go to Instagram, if it is something that is a big project milestone, or something that I think will be enjoyed by more people then I cross post to Twitter and Facebook (or one of them). This fills the space between more substantial blog posts. But I am not currently using instagram to post blog links. (On the theme of cross-posting, social media was a topic of my recent blog post – it includes some thoughts from half a dozen other sewists and cosplayers.) http://wp.me/p2O9ro-Vf
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I loved reading your post! Fun to hear perspectives from people I know well, like Brooke, people I’ve followed, and people I don’t know at all!
I’ve got a couple of regional sewing groups on FB, and I do really like it for that – makes it easy to talk to each other without annoying everyone else!
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I like when people post about blog posts on instagram, it’s allowed me to find new blogs to read. It also prompts me to check my blog reader if someone posts about having a new blog post up. It makes sense for sewing posts too, as it’s relevant to share a picture from the post on instagram.
I don’t use Facebook at all anymore, and rarely check twitter either, instagram is my dominant social media at the moment (for sewing stuff anyway). So if someone didn’t cross post I’d miss stuff unless it was on instagram.
I think cross posting is good, but posting on the same platform multiple times would get tiring, depending on the platform.
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Where do you follow the most people: IG, Twitter, or blog reader? I bet that makes a big difference in where we like to see cross posting. I follow less people on IG than anywhere else, because I want to be excited for a friend every time I see a pic, not wondering “who is that?” That might be why I find the posting about blog posts on IG annoying – because I follow all my IG friends’ blogs and tweets, too!
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I get your point about where the most people are followed, but where I check the most and how ‘thorough’ my checking ias are probably the bigger factors. Instagram I check regularly and will look at every photo in my feed. Twitter I don’t check much anymore so will definitely miss stuff. Blog posts I might read even up to a week or two later, depending on how much time I have. Posting about a blog post on instagram makes me actually open my blog reader to check out a post if it looks interesting, rather than it waiting until I next have time to read through posts.
I think one possible reason the conversation has moved from twitter to instagram (for me anyway) is the change they made to twitter a while back, where it would group ‘conversations’ of tweets, so you would get tweets out of order, and sometimes multiple times. I much preferred it when it was just a list of tweets in strict chronological order. If I wanted to see what a tweet was about I could click on it to see what it was a reply to and see it’s replies, but having it grouped in my feed made the whole thing less usable for me, due to the repetition and lack of chronological order
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I HATE when people post about their blog posts on twitter multiple times. Once is fine, but any more than that screams “desperation” to me. I’ll either find it on my reader later or I don’t follow that blog anyway.
It used to bug me that I would have to click an external link to see the IG pics, but then I got to where I followed those people on IG, so I just skip those in my twitter feed. I’ve never been able to figure out exactly what should be posted on twitter vs IG, so I generally err on the side of IG so that I can type more stuff–I’m not very good at staying under 140 characters, especially when a pic takes up some of those… 😛
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Sometimes I have trouble figuring out what to post where, too! I figure Twitter is for actual conversations, whereas IG is a lot about giving and receiving compliments, pats on the back, or saying, “Hey, I’m alive today!” Now that IG seems to be more active than Twitter, I’m more likely to ask a sewing question on IG because I’ll likely get an answer first.
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I don’t use Twitter/Facebook anymore, but I love Instagram. Since I am new to blogging, I do mention my blog in some of my posts (although, really, most of my IG photos are of my cats…) because I want to make friends! For some reason, I do hesitate before mentioning my blog at all. In my experience, Instagram has been the most user-friendly platform for making new sewing friends from around the world. It has been so inspiring! I would not have half of the blogs in my RSS feed without it. Every time I see a picture that I like, I check to see if there is a blog to follow.
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PS: Thank you for always posting such engaging questions!
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At least half my IG pics are cats too! I love a good cat pic, and I’m disappointed when my IG feed doesn’t have enough. Catscatscatscats! Fastest way to brighten up a day! 🙂
It’s so interesting that you’ve made most of your online friends through IG, because I feel the same way about Twitter. I guess it depends what year you were looking for sewing friends! I miss the conversations and chats on twitter now that people are shifting over to IG more and more. Wherever you find sewing friends though, it’s a good thing!
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I’m really not into Twitter, but I am definitely an Instagram addict. I don’t usually link to my blog through it though (maybe I should? Lots of people do and it’s kind of handy). Sometimes I wonder if some of my Instagram followers even realize that I have a blog. And sometimes I worry that if I post too many photos of makes on Instagram, the ones who do know about my blog won’t go and read about it cause they’ve already seen the pictures. But I’m also a worry wort and sewing/blogging isn’t my job so I’m not really actively promoting myself. And really if someone annoys me too much with links then I just don’t follow them. Good topic!
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You should do an IG poll and ask how many people follow your blog! Personally I always enjoy reading blog posts about items i’ve seen in progress on IG… I know a little of the story but I know the blog post will have way more info and final reflections! I get kinda annoyed when people IG about their blog, but that might just be because I follow the blogs of everyone (and more) that I follow on IG. If someone has blogged, I’ve already read it!
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Hmmm, I find all the cross posting boring/annoying
I think if you’re a hobbyist, then why would you need to? If people like your blog/instagram/twitter, then they’re probably following you already, no?
And if you’re trying to be a “pro” blog, then it reeks of desperation to me. Again, if people like your content, they will follow anyway. Once is enough 🙂
Then what do I know, I don’t use twitter anymore (no time). My FB is like yours, personal, no sewing there. And instagram is my social media of choice.
Simply put, I think it’s boring to post the same thing on each social media site. Mix it up!
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After reading everyone’s comments, I think I’ve decided this: I don’t mind people sharing about a blog post when the post first goes up, but I do get annoyed when it’s 24 later. Sometimes a post takes a while to show up in my blog reader, so a heads up isn’t bad… but blogging moves so fast that if I read a post yesterday it already feels like old news. (Maybe that’s a problem in itself?)
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It’s an interesting question. I have a blog, a twitter account and an Instagram account. I’m rarely at Twitter and mostly forget about that as a linking media but I usually refers to my new blog post on IG. I don’t mind when other people do the same. It gives me a heads up on what they are doing on their blogs without any effort on my part. But I guess one will have to find a balance. Three times or more is too much in my opinion, but once or twice is ok. I’m actually not on Facebook at all so I like it when people use IG and twitter to communicate their blog content.
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I guess if you spend most of your time on IG, then it makes sense you have patience for 1 or 2 reminder posts about a blog… maybe I’m making it worse for myself by being active on Twitter and IG, because then I see it all twice as much? I love both forums though, so I’ll just keep living with it. 🙂
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I don’t mind cross posting but I dislike repetition. I have unfollowed people on Twitter who tweet multiple times about the same blog post! I’m not on Instagram or Facebook though so there’s a limit to the amount of cross posting I’m going to see.
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There is something lovely and cathartic about unfollowing people, isn’t there? It’s better for everyone. I’d hate to think people were still following me if my posts just annoyed them everytime!
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Interesting blog post Gillian! I’m like you I keep my sewing off FB I’m not sure why, perhaps I’m worried about critic from nearest and dearest. It’s great to have other platforms to share/support other sewists. I love IG mostly because I’m a visual person. I’ve noticed recently I’m slowly moving away from Twitter, which I used to love, but it’s not as visual and restricted with characters is a pain. Although I do love it to communicate with other sewers. Seems like there’s a void for a new social media somewhere between IG and Twitter x
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I miss that way Twitter used to be – it was so active and fun! And it allowed for chats and long evolving discussions in a way that IG doesn’t. I can see why newer Sewcialists like IG more though, because that’s where the action is now.
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i only use twitter for work so it must be a tad bit confusing when a little tweet goes out about sewing. I’ve just been too lazy to delink it.
i do still link back to Facebook. The reason I set up my blog was to stop boring my friends with oodles of sewing chat but apparently quite a few friends still enjoy reading the blog via Facebook.
I don’t have Instagram yet though I’m told by the 20 year olds at work i need one and should get with it. I still can’t see the attraction I’m afraid.
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If IG doesn’t float your boat, no need to feel pressure! For me it fulfills the same roll that Twitter did a few years ago – it’s where all the sewcialists are hanging out, encouraging each other, and making each other giggle! Then again, I’m a big fan of cat pictures, which is half my IG feed, so that could be colouring my perspective! 😉
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I only read blogs, I’m not into any other form of social media at all, and I don’t have my own blog so I’m commenting as purely a blog reader. Sometimes people mention their Instagram accounts, like, “you probably saw this dress on Instagram already”, etc., and then I think sadly, am I missing out on a lot of stuff?? But when I get down to it I don’t really want to spend any more time reading about other people’s projects. Blogs give me plenty of that. I need to spend more time doing my OWN sewing projects instead of just reading about sewing. Plus I want time for reading books and doing other stuff. I’m not even actively looking for new blogs to read. If I run across something, great, but right now I’m more likely to unfollow something that’s lost interest for me than I am to hunt down something new.
By the way please don’t stop blogging, because yours is one of my favorites!
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Aww, thank you Ann! That’s a lovely compliment. *Grin!*
I deleted FB off my phone the other day, and felt really good about it… because as you say, I have better things to do with my time! I do love Twitter and IG for giving me a social outlet – other than that, I basically just work and see my husband, not friends or family (because I’m introverted, and because they live far away). Social media gives me that happy and relaxed feeling of having a chat with your best friends (because I am!)
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i don’t mind cross posting, and i do it, but more than once on each is too much for me. in fact i do it like medicine, IG-twitter-FB page, all three quick in a row so it’s done. kind of a love/hate thing, i suppose ;).
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Rip the bandaid off quick! 😉 I don’t mind at all when people post on different forums when the post first goes up… I do start to get annoyed 24 later when they are still reminding me!
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Here’s my usual routine: I do tweet my blog posts, because Blogger does not do that automatically. I haven’t been on Twitter as much lately, my feed seems so cluttered these days and my phone is really annoying about making me scroll to the top every time I open the app! So I’m mostly using it to send out the occasional sewing/here’s what’s going on in my life tweet, or to send my best friend a quick message. I mostly keep my sewing off of Facebook, except for a couple of closed membership sewing groups like the Stashbusting Sewalong, or if it’s a project that I think several of my friends will be interested, like my recent gender announcement baby outfit. Instagram is where I’m the most varied. I recently set it to more private since I’ll have kid pictures on there soon. So I will tweet an IG pic if it’s sewing related (or the occasional cute dog pic), I’ll Facebook it if it’s something my friends and family would enjoy, like pics of the dogs/husband/baby bump pics, and some things I just leave Instagram only.
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Have you noticed any change in your IG experience since you set it to private? I”m strangely protective of my IG feed… I won’t let people follow me unless their recent pics involve a lot of sewing, and I won’t follow people back unless I know how they are. I guess I have so many blogs I read and so many people I follow on twitter that I like having one forum that is cultivated down to just “friends” – or at least people I know something about!
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Interesting! I don’t have my blog linked to anything, so every once in a while I tweet about a blog post myself, but not very often. I love Instagram and use it mostly for in-progress shots, stuff I find funny, or, most often, pug pics. 🙂 I use Twitter just to chat, and Facebook is non-sewing-related (mostly just dumb photos or articles that make me laugh). I guess I get why some bloggers are more promote-y, but I feel like anyone who wants to read my blog already knows how to get there! 🙂 I don’t really like seeing tons of links to IG pics on Twitter; seems kind of pointless! But, different strokes for different folks!
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Hey, there is nothing wrong with a steady stream of dog pics. Cat-free sewcialists can have fun with the furry cuteness too! 😀
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Pet pics of all kinds are one of my fav parts of IG! It’s how I know IG will always make me smile when I’m busy or stressed. I like Twitter for talking about things that aren’t photogenic – sometimes I catch myself thinking, “What pic could I take so I can post about ____?”, and then I think, “Uh, that’s tweet material then!”
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I suck at the cross posting. I use Twitter and my blog – that’s it. (Well, I have a accounts for all the other things, but I never use them.) And I rarely tweet about my new posts. Only if it calls to me. I figure that people have me in their readers. Not that this brings me new readers…
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I never get the feeling you are desperate for new readers though… and neither am I. As long as most posts have good discussion (and your always do) then why would I want to change what I do just to get more strangers reading me? Sure, you could do pinterest-ready photo heavy pics about making creams and potions, but that would be so. not. you. I love the clarity of your blogging voice as is.
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what a great post. I use IG for keeping in contact with my sewing network and I check it every day multiple times, so IG is my sewing thing. I don’t tweet from IG because I don’t keep up with my twitter feed, so if I’m not using it regularly what is the point. I do (most of the time anyway) post a pick to say I’ve that details of this project are now on the blog, and that is because I’ve usually posted multiple in progress photos on IG already, so anyone who was particularly interested in that garment can go read the details. I try and put details on my blog. FB well, like you I only use that for friends and family – I do participate in a couple of closed groups on FB but don’t usually post there that I’ve blogged. Each to there own but I do stop following sewing bloggers who do a load of self-promotion! Although I LOVE that social media has connected me with people all over the world that all contribute to my love of sewing.
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I’m like you with checking Twitter in binges, but it’s my main sewcial media (FB is mostly non-sewing friends and family). I don’t have IG and it’s such a pain for me to post photos online that I try to save it for the blog or special announcements. I tweet some blog posts and link to FB and G+, but not necessarily each one if I’ve been playing catch-up because I figure they’ll find their way to the other posts eventually.
I like it when people tweet their IG or blog posts because I always forget to check Bloglovin. I think of Twitter as part conversation, part curation of stuff people think is good enough to share (whether written by themselves or not). I follow a lot of math and science people, and those are pretty much all external links, which may be why tweeting sewing links doesn’t bother me. Although I think it’s weird, I’m sure there is a good reason for multiple tweets. so I just ignore them.
tldr: Keep tweeting the links! People don’t have to click on them but I do a lot of the time and it’s pretty much how I find new and interesting things to read.
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As a latecomer to twitter all my feed seemed to be were links to elsewhere – blogs, IG I just didn’t get it! So don’t use it anymore.
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I do some cross posting – mainly IG to Twitter. But I originally got IG because it made it easier to post photos from my phone to Twitter. There are occasional photos I don’t cross-post to Twitter and sometimes I also send IG to my business FB page (I don’t have a personal FB account).
I like people tweeting the same thing a handful of times (spread out over time!) on Twitter because my feed moves so fast I usually miss things. I only follow the blogs I have time to keep up with, but I do often click direct blog links and IG links I see on Twitter if they sound interesting. I also only follow who I can comfortably keep up with on IG and sometimes read blogs from links posted there. For me, Twitter is for chatting, blogging is for long-form writing (& lots of photos), and IG is micro-blogging. I only have a FB page for people who like to follow my blog that way. However, I am really good about answering any tweet or IG tag people send me even if I don’t follow the sender.
Speaking of being behind on blog reading… I think I have more than 80 posts I need to catch up on! And I think 4 or 5 of those are yours, Gillian!
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I need to unlink my Patternreview and Twitter feeds–the auto posts are annoying and not something that I would write. As I’ve started to use Twitter more, I realize I don’t want that to be the public face of my writing. I like that I can cross link specifically in Twitter such as to a specific pattern company instead of just saying, hey, I wrote something.
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Interesting question, and not something I’ve completely figured out yet. My routine is blogpost -> Twitter, FB, IG. I feel like I need to because I have a business. First I posted on Instagram and then also to twitter, but now I try to use them for their purpose. Words on twitter and photos on IG. I do get much more response on IG so I find myself on Twitter less and less. I do like the occasional chat on twitter but I usually miss them. I love IG, I’ve found so many interesting people there!
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I like IG and I use it a lot more than twitter. I’m a visual person, and I often get lost with all the information on Twitter and so many external links. I mainly use IG, and also for announcing new blog posts. I have IG configured so it tweets anytime I post. I find it useful for those people who don’t have an IG account.
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One of the main reasons I moved from Blogger to WordPress was that WordPress made it so much easier do social media updates about new blog posts (I haven’t quite worked out a way to do this with IG yet).
Something that needs to be taken into consideration when thinking about repeated social media updates is time zones; the main ones for me are – Australia (where I am), the UK and the USA. So perhaps that’s a reason why we see repeat social media updates.
I did for a time have a lot of cross/repeat posting because of the way I had my ‘social sharing’ options set up on various platforms. I think at one point I had 3-4 Twitter updates about one IG post because IG would tweet, then FB, then Tumblr, then …. Argh! It was a mess. But I think I’ve got it sorted now.
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