postsid

Postsid is a term used in information systems to denote the unique identifier assigned to a published post or article within a platform's data store. It serves as a stable key that enables precise retrieval, linking, and reference across APIs, databases, and user interfaces. In practice, the postsid is an opaque value, not designed to convey human-readable information about the post. It may be numeric, alphanumeric, or a UUID, and can be implemented as a simple auto-incrementing integer, a globally unique identifier, or a time-based or shard-aware string.

In database design, the postsid is commonly implemented as a primary key or as a surrogate key that maps to a row in a posts table. It is often kept immutable to preserve historical references and to avoid broken links when post content changes. When used in APIs, the postsid is included in resource URLs or query parameters to fetch the exact post. Some platforms expose the postsid publicly, which can raise privacy or security considerations if IDs are predictable. Techniques such as opaque tokens, randomization, or hash-based IDs are used to mitigate enumeration risks while preserving referential integrity.

Relation to other identifiers includes the post slug, a human-friendly URL component, and the post URL, which commonly combines the slug with the postsid or uses redirects. Examples of systems using postsid-like identifiers include content management systems and social media backends.

Etymology is intuitive: it combines 'post' and 'ID' to describe the identifier for a post.