diff --git a/gh-notify b/gh-notify
index 7278106..3e06c4e 100755
--- a/gh-notify
+++ b/gh-notify
@@ -243,12 +243,12 @@ print_notifs() {
     local all_notifs=""
 
     while :; do
+        # Print "marching ants" after `get_notifs` to indicate progress.
+        printf >&2 "."
         local_page_size=$((total_requested - fetched_count > GH_NOTIFY_PER_PAGE_LIMIT ? \
             GH_NOTIFY_PER_PAGE_LIMIT : total_requested - fetched_count))
         page=$(get_notifs "$page_num") || die "Failed to get notifications."
         [[ -z $page ]] && break
-        # Print "marching ants" after `get_notifs` to indicate progress.
-        printf >&2 "."
 
         page_num=$((page_num + 1))
         # On each run, we can fetch up to 50 notifications. If a user requested 56, we can't specify
@@ -318,7 +318,8 @@ process_url() {
     local type="$1" url="$2"
     local number prerelease
     if command grep -q "Commit" <<<"$type"; then
-        command basename "$url" | command head -c 7
+        # https://blog.cuviper.com/2013/11/10/how-short-can-git-abbreviate/
+        command basename "$url" | command head -c 12
     elif command grep -q "Release" <<<"$type"; then
         if IFS=$'\t' read -r number prerelease < <(command gh api "$url" \
             --cache=100h \