Fix !post in round-robin mode, ❓ reaction VS16, image label

- !post falls back to newest unposted story for the channel when the
  in-memory queue is empty (the steady state under round-robin).
- Accept ❓️/❔️ (U+FE0F variation selector) as question reactions —
  the bare codepoints alone missed clients that render the colored emoji.
- Rewrite Guardian i.guim.co.uk thumbnails to width=1200 so we stop
  rejecting real images as "tracking pixels"; relabel the size warning.
- Log decrypt failures and reactions on events not in post_log so future
  silent drops surface instead of vanishing.

internal/explainer/explainer.go

@@ -25,7 +25,9 @@ import (
 // plain "?" so users don't have to hunt for the exact red question mark.
 var questionReactions = map[string]bool{
 	"❓":  true, // U+2753 red question mark
+	"❓️": true, // U+2753 + VS16 (emoji presentation)
 	"❔":  true, // U+2754 white question mark
+	"❔️": true, // U+2754 + VS16
 	"⁉":  true, // U+2049 exclamation question mark
 	"⁉️": true, // U+2049 + VS16 (emoji presentation)
 	"🤔":  true, // U+1F914 thinking face

internal/explainer/explainer_test.go

@@ -95,7 +95,7 @@ func TestFormatSummary_NoBulletsPassthrough(t *testing.T) {
 }
 
 func TestIsQuestionReaction(t *testing.T) {
-	want := []string{"❓", "❔", "⁉", "⁉️", "🤔", "?", "？"}
+	want := []string{"❓", "❓️", "❔", "❔️", "⁉", "⁉️", "🤔", "?", "？"}
 	for _, k := range want {
 		if !IsQuestionReaction(k) {
 			t.Errorf("expected %q to trigger explain", k)

internal/ingestion/image.go

@@ -3,11 +3,32 @@ package ingestion
 import (
 	"log/slog"
 	"net/http"
+	"net/url"
 	"strconv"
 	"strings"
 	"time"
 )
 
+// NormalizeImageURL rewrites known CDN thumbnail URLs to a higher-resolution
+// variant. Currently handles Guardian's i.guim.co.uk, whose RSS feeds hand out
+// 140-px-wide thumbnails by default. Unrecognized hosts pass through unchanged.
+func NormalizeImageURL(raw string) string {
+	if raw == "" {
+		return raw
+	}
+	u, err := url.Parse(raw)
+	if err != nil || u.Host != "i.guim.co.uk" {
+		return raw
+	}
+	q := u.Query()
+	if q.Get("width") == "" {
+		return raw
+	}
+	q.Set("width", "1200")
+	u.RawQuery = q.Encode()
+	return u.String()
+}
+
 var imageClient = &http.Client{
 	Timeout: 10 * time.Second,
 	CheckRedirect: func(req *http.Request, via []*http.Request) error {
@@ -54,7 +75,7 @@ func ValidateImageURL(url string) bool {
 	if cl := resp.Header.Get("Content-Length"); cl != "" {
 		size, err := strconv.ParseInt(cl, 10, 64)
 		if err == nil && size <= 5120 {
-			slog.Warn("image validation: too small (likely tracking pixel)", "url", url, "size", size)
+			slog.Warn("image validation: small image (≤5KB), skipping", "url", url, "size", size)
 			return false
 		}
 	}

internal/ingestion/parser.go

@@ -55,7 +55,7 @@ func FetchFeed(feedURL string) ([]FeedItem, error) {
 			GUID:       itemGUID(item),
 			Headline:   strings.TrimSpace(item.Title),
 			Lede:       extractLede(item.Description),
-			ImageURL:   extractImageURL(item),
+			ImageURL:   NormalizeImageURL(extractImageURL(item)),
 			ArticleURL: strings.TrimSpace(item.Link),
 		}
 		if fi.GUID == "" || fi.ArticleURL == "" {

internal/matrix/client.go

@@ -133,6 +133,13 @@ func New(cfg config.MatrixConfig) (*Client, error) {
 		return nil, fmt.Errorf("init crypto helper: %w", err)
 	}
 
+	// Surface decrypt failures — the default is a silent no-op, which hides
+	// missing-megolm-session errors (the usual cause of "Pete ignores reactions").
+	ch.DecryptErrorCallback = func(evt *event.Event, err error) {
+		slog.Warn("matrix: failed to decrypt incoming event",
+			"room", evt.RoomID, "event_id", evt.ID, "sender", evt.Sender, "err", err)
+	}
+
 	// LoginAs enables the cryptohelper to re-login if the token expires
 	ch.LoginAs = &mautrix.ReqLogin{
 		Type: mautrix.AuthTypePassword,

internal/poster/queue.go

@@ -195,6 +195,13 @@ func (q *Queue) drainChannel(channel string) {
 	q.postItem(item)
 }
 
+// PostNow sends a story immediately, bypassing the in-memory queue and all
+// pacing limits. Last-mile canonical-URL dedup still applies. Used by !post
+// to satisfy on-demand requests with stories pulled directly from storage.
+func (q *Queue) PostNow(item QueueItem) {
+	q.postItem(item)
+}
+
 func (q *Queue) postItem(item QueueItem) {
 	// Last-mile dedup: if this canonical URL was already posted to this channel
 	// within the cooldown window, drop silently. Catches "same article, different

internal/poster/tracker.go

@@ -32,7 +32,8 @@ func SetReactionCallback(fn ReactionCallback) {
 func HandleReaction(roomID id.RoomID, eventID id.EventID, targetEventID id.EventID, emoji string, userID id.UserID) {
 	guid, channel, found := storage.LookupPostGUID(string(targetEventID))
 	if !found {
-		// Reaction on a message we didn't post — ignore
+		slog.Info("reaction on event not in post_log, ignoring",
+			"target_event", targetEventID, "emoji", emoji, "user", userID)
 		return
 	}
 

internal/storage/queries.go

@@ -247,6 +247,29 @@ func GetNewestPostableStory(source string) (*Story, error) {
 	return &s, nil
 }
 
+// GetNewestPostableStoryByChannel returns the newest classified story routed
+// to the given channel that has not yet been posted. Used by !post to satisfy
+// on-demand requests in round-robin mode (where the in-memory queue is empty
+// between ticks). Returns (nil, nil) when nothing qualifies.
+func GetNewestPostableStoryByChannel(channel string) (*Story, error) {
+	row := Get().QueryRow(
+		`SELECT guid, headline, lede, image_url, article_url, source, feed_hint, platforms, channel, seen_at
+		 FROM stories
+		 WHERE classified = 1
+		   AND channel = ?
+		   AND guid NOT IN (SELECT guid FROM post_log)
+		 ORDER BY seen_at DESC
+		 LIMIT 1`, channel)
+	var s Story
+	if err := row.Scan(&s.GUID, &s.Headline, &s.Lede, &s.ImageURL, &s.ArticleURL, &s.Source, &s.FeedHint, &s.Platforms, &s.Channel, &s.SeenAt); err != nil {
+		if errors.Is(err, sql.ErrNoRows) {
+			return nil, nil
+		}
+		return nil, err
+	}
+	return &s, nil
+}
+
 // GetRoundRobinState returns the last source posted by the round-robin
 // scheduler and the timestamp of that tick. Empty string + 0 if no state yet.
 func GetRoundRobinState() (lastSource string, lastTickAt int64, err error) {

main.go

@@ -92,11 +92,35 @@ func main() {
 		if queue.ForcePost(channel) {
 			return
 		}
+		// In-memory queue empty (common in round-robin mode). Fall back to the
+		// newest classified, not-yet-posted story for this channel.
+		story, err := storage.GetNewestPostableStoryByChannel(channel)
+		if err != nil {
+			slog.Error("!post: db lookup failed", "channel", channel, "err", err)
+			return
+		}
+		if story != nil {
+			imageURL := ""
+			if story.ImageURL != "" && ingestion.ValidateImageURL(story.ImageURL) {
+				imageURL = story.ImageURL
+			}
+			queue.PostNow(poster.QueueItem{
+				GUID:       story.GUID,
+				Headline:   story.Headline,
+				Lede:       story.Lede,
+				ImageURL:   imageURL,
+				ArticleURL: story.ArticleURL,
+				Source:     story.Source,
+				Channel:    story.Channel,
+				Platforms:  storage.UnmarshalPlatforms(story.Platforms),
+			})
+			return
+		}
 		if err := mx.PostThreadedReply(channel, eventID,
-			"nothing queued for "+channel,
+			"nothing available for "+channel,
-			"nothing queued for <code>"+channel+"</code>",
+			"nothing available for <code>"+channel+"</code>",
 		); err != nil {
-			slog.Warn("!post: failed to send empty-queue reply", "err", err)
+			slog.Warn("!post: failed to send empty reply", "err", err)
 		}
 	})