Why does the Collected count change when I scroll back up?

PostSnag's Collected count can pause or flicker briefly when you scroll back up over posts you've already passed. That's expected: PostSnag recognizes a post it already captured and won't count it a second time, and the number is designed to only grow during a session, never drop. Once you stop scrolling and give it a moment, the count settles back to an accurate figure on its own.

The flicker comes from how Facebook's own feed behaves when you scroll upward, not from anything going wrong with your capture.

Why this happens

Facebook's feed reloads and redisplays post cards you've already scrolled past, and this happens more aggressively when you scroll back upward than when you keep scrolling down. Without any handling for that, the same post could briefly look "new" again each time its card gets redrawn, which would inflate the count with duplicates.

PostSnag avoids that in two ways. First, every post is matched to a stable identity based on its own permalink, not its position on the page, so PostSnag recognizes a post it already has no matter how many times Facebook re-renders that card. Second, scrolling upward briefly pauses PostSnag's passive background scanning for a second or two, specifically because that's the moment Facebook is most likely to be redisplaying older cards rather than loading anything genuinely new. Scanning resumes as soon as you scroll down again.

Put together, what you'll typically notice is: the Collected count holds steady or pauses very briefly while you scroll up, then continues climbing normally once you scroll back down past new material. It should never visibly decrease. If a number briefly looks like it dipped, that's almost always the display catching up rather than posts actually being removed from what's stored.

What to do

1. Scroll down through a profile in one steady direction where you can. This is the simplest way to avoid the flicker altogether.

2. If you do scroll back up, for example to double-check an earlier post, give the panel a couple of seconds to settle afterward before reading the count.

3. Treat the Collected number as final once the panel's status pill reads "Synced," not mid-scroll and not immediately after scrolling up.

4. If you scroll up and down repeatedly in a short span, expect the settle time to take a bit longer than a single clean pass; that's still normal, just give it more time.

5. If a number still looks off well after the panel has settled, rescan the profile from the top.

How to avoid it

Scroll a profile in one steady downward pass whenever you can, rather than bouncing up and down to re-check earlier posts as you go. If you need to revisit something you already scrolled past, it's usually faster to find it later in the panel or on the dashboard than to scroll back up through the live Facebook feed. When you do scroll up, build in a short pause afterward before you read the Collected count, so you're always checking a settled number rather than one still catching up.

[Screenshot: The panel mid-scroll, showing the Collected count next to the "Capturing" status pill]

Common questions

Does scrolling up remove posts I already captured?
No. The Collected count is designed to only grow during a session. A brief pause or flicker while scrolling up is expected and settles on its own; it doesn't mean posts were dropped.

Am I being double counted if I scroll over the same posts twice?
No. PostSnag recognizes a post it already captured, using that post's own link as its identity, and won't count it a second time even if Facebook redisplays the same card.

Why does the panel seem to pause right when I scroll up?
PostSnag briefly holds off on background scanning while you scroll upward, since that's exactly when Facebook is most likely to redisplay posts you've already passed. It resumes normally once you scroll down again.

Does this affect which posts end up in my export?
No. This only affects the live counter's display while you're actively scrolling. What's actually stored, and what gets sent to your dashboard when you export, isn't affected by a brief on-screen flicker.

Is it better to avoid scrolling up at all?
Scrolling down in one steady pass is the simplest way to get a clean capture without any flicker, but scrolling back up doesn't break anything. It's just worth letting the panel settle for a couple of seconds afterward.