"Pack" and POST your data against the "context" that universe-resource-locator provides, which means #1 for the sake of the locator.
Mind the limitations with #2. I prefer POSTs to #1.
note: limitations are discussed for
POST in Is there a max size for POST parameter content?
GET in Is there a limit to the length of a GET request? and Max size of URL parameters in _GET
p.s. these limits are based on the client capabilities (browser) and server(configuration).
