diff --git a/__tests__/unit/components/repost-renders-as-a-post.test.tsx b/__tests__/unit/components/repost-renders-as-a-post.test.tsx
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..bcf4e19b5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/__tests__/unit/components/repost-renders-as-a-post.test.tsx
@@ -0,0 +1,92 @@
+/**
+ * A repost is shown as the post it is; a quote repost shows two posts.
+ *
+ * A simple repost used to suppress its own content and render the original
+ * inside a bordered panel instead — a panel repeating the original author's
+ * avatar and handle, which the post header directly above was ALREADY showing
+ * (PostCard swaps the reposter for the original author on a simple repost).
+ * One repost drew the same person twice, two lines apart, with the actual text
+ * boxed off underneath.
+ *
+ * The distinction these tests hold: a SIMPLE repost has one author and one
+ * body, so it renders flat. A QUOTE repost genuinely has two of each, so it
+ * keeps the nested panel. Collapsing both cases the same way would be the
+ * opposite bug.
+ */
+
+import { render, screen } from '@testing-library/react';
+import { PostContent } from '@/components/timeline/PostContent';
+import type { TimelineDisplayEvent } from '@/types/timeline';
+
+jest.mock('@/utils/markdown', () => ({
+  renderMarkdownToReact: (text: string) => text,
+}));
+
+const base = {
+  id: 'e1',
+  actor: { id: 'a1', name: 'Reposter', username: 'reposter', type: 'user' },
+  description: '',
+  metadata: {},
+} as unknown as TimelineDisplayEvent;
+
+function simpleRepost(): TimelineDisplayEvent {
+  return {
+    ...base,
+    description: '',
+    metadata: {
+      is_repost: true,
+      original_event_id: 'orig-1',
+      original_actor_name: 'Original Author',
+      original_actor_username: 'original',
+      original_description: 'The original words.',
+    },
+  } as unknown as TimelineDisplayEvent;
+}
+
+function quoteRepost(): TimelineDisplayEvent {
+  return {
+    ...base,
+    description: 'My take on this.',
+    metadata: {
+      is_repost: true,
+      is_quote_repost: true,
+      original_event_id: 'orig-1',
+      original_actor_name: 'Original Author',
+      original_actor_username: 'original',
+      original_description: 'The original words.',
+    },
+  } as unknown as TimelineDisplayEvent;
+}
+
+describe('a simple repost', () => {
+  it('shows the original text as the post body', () => {
+    render(<PostContent event={simpleRepost()} />);
+
+    expect(screen.getByText('The original words.')).toBeInTheDocument();
+  });
+
+  it('does not repeat the original author, who is already in the header', () => {
+    render(<PostContent event={simpleRepost()} />);
+
+    // PostCard renders the original author in the post header for a simple
+    // repost. PostContent must not draw them a second time.
+    expect(screen.queryByText('Original Author')).not.toBeInTheDocument();
+    expect(screen.queryByText('@original')).not.toBeInTheDocument();
+  });
+});
+
+describe('a quote repost', () => {
+  it('shows the quoter’s own words as the post body', () => {
+    render(<PostContent event={quoteRepost()} />);
+
+    expect(screen.getByText('My take on this.')).toBeInTheDocument();
+  });
+
+  it('keeps the quoted original in its own panel, author and all', () => {
+    render(<PostContent event={quoteRepost()} />);
+
+    // Two posts, two authors: here the panel earns its place.
+    expect(screen.getByText('Original Author')).toBeInTheDocument();
+    expect(screen.getByText('The original words.')).toBeInTheDocument();
+  });
+});
diff --git a/src/components/timeline/PostContent.tsx b/src/components/timeline/PostContent.tsx
index 150b6173b..83fc8789b 100644
--- a/src/components/timeline/PostContent.tsx
+++ b/src/components/timeline/PostContent.tsx
@@ -107,8 +107,23 @@ export function PostContent({ event }: PostContentProps) {
         </Link>
       )}
 
-      {/* Event Description/Content */}
-      {!articleSlug && displayContent && (!isRepost || isQuoteRepost) && (
+      {/*
+        A reposted post is shown as the post it is.
+
+        A simple repost used to suppress its own content here and render the
+        original inside a bordered panel below instead — a panel that repeated
+        the original author's avatar and handle, which the post header directly
+        above was ALREADY showing (PostCard swaps the reposter for the original
+        author on a simple repost). So one repost drew the same person twice,
+        two lines apart, with the actual text boxed off underneath. That is
+        what "reposts look ugly" was.
+
+        `getDisplayContent` already returns the original's text for a simple
+        repost, so it renders here like any other post. The nested panel is
+        kept for QUOTE reposts, where there genuinely are two posts and two
+        authors to tell apart.
+      */}
+      {!articleSlug && displayContent && (
         <div className="text-fg-primary text-[15px] leading-relaxed whitespace-pre-line break-words">
           {renderMarkdownToReact(displayContent)}
         </div>
@@ -206,40 +221,6 @@ export function PostContent({ event }: PostContentProps) {
       )}
 
       {/* Simple Repost: show original post inside a quoted card for consistency */}
-      {isRepost && !isQuoteRepost && event.metadata?.original_event_id && (
-        <div className={`mt-2 overflow-hidden ${TIMELINE_SURFACE.panel}`}>
-          <div className="p-3 sm:p-4 space-y-2">
-            <div className="flex items-start gap-3">
-              <Link href={`/profiles/${originalAuthor.username}`} className="flex-shrink-0">
-                {/* eslint-disable-next-line @next/next/no-img-element -- avatar_url is a free-form user URL (any host); next/image would throw for hosts outside images.remotePatterns */}
-                <img
-                  src={originalAuthor.avatar}
-                  alt={originalAuthor.name}
-                  className="w-9 h-9 rounded-full"
-                />
-              </Link>
-              <div className="flex-1 min-w-0">
-                <div className="flex items-center gap-1 flex-wrap">
-                  <Link
-                    href={`/profiles/${originalAuthor.username}`}
-                    className="font-semibold text-fg-primary hover:underline"
-                  >
-                    {originalAuthor.name}
-                  </Link>
-                  {originalAuthor.username && (
-                    <span className="text-fg-secondary text-sm">@{originalAuthor.username}</span>
-                  )}
-                </div>
-              </div>
-            </div>
-            {originalDescription && (
-              <div className="text-fg-primary text-sm leading-relaxed whitespace-pre-line break-words">
-                {renderMarkdownToReact(originalDescription)}
-              </div>
-            )}
-          </div>
-        </div>
-      )}
 
       {/* Attached image — plain <img>: Openverse hosts aren't in next/image remotePatterns */}
       {postImage && !isRepost && (
diff --git a/src/components/timeline/TimelineComponent.tsx b/src/components/timeline/TimelineComponent.tsx
index 12c872c22..8a90501a0 100644
--- a/src/components/timeline/TimelineComponent.tsx
+++ b/src/components/timeline/TimelineComponent.tsx
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@ import { usePostSelection } from '@/hooks/usePostSelection';
 import EmptyState from '@/components/ui/EmptyState';
 import { BulkActionsToolbar } from './BulkActionsToolbar';
 import { BulkDeleteConfirmDialog } from './BulkDeleteConfirmDialog';
+import { TIMELINE_SURFACE } from '@/config/timeline';
 
 interface TimelineComponentProps {
   feed: TimelineFeedResponse;
@@ -186,16 +187,31 @@ export const TimelineComponent: React.FC<TimelineComponentProps> = ({
       {enableMultiSelect && (
         <>
           {!isSelectionMode ? (
-            // Entry point to selection mode - small button
-            <div className="sticky top-16 z-10 border-b border-subtle bg-surface-page/90 px-4 py-2.5 backdrop-blur-xl">
+            /*
+              The way IN to selection mode is not itself worth a banner.
+
+              This used to be a full-width bar with its own border, background
+              and `sticky top-16` — so a control for bulk-deleting old posts
+              followed you down the entire feed, above every post you came to
+              read. It was the fourth separate bordered band before the first
+              post.
+
+              Managing posts is a rare, deliberate task; reading them is the
+              reason the page exists. So the entry point is a quiet inline
+              control, and everything it opens — the full toolbar with counts,
+              select-all and the destructive actions — is unchanged, because
+              once you ARE selecting, that toolbar is the thing you need and
+              it earns being sticky.
+            */
+            <div className="flex justify-end px-4 py-2">
               <Button
-                variant="outline"
+                variant="ghost"
                 size="sm"
                 onClick={toggleSelectionMode}
-                className="flex items-center gap-2 text-sm"
+                className={TIMELINE_SURFACE.chip}
               >
                 <CheckSquare className="w-4 h-4" />
-                <span>Select Posts</span>
+                <span>Select</span>
               </Button>
             </div>
           ) : (