Losing posts when unexpectedly being logged out

[Browser]

I've had this happen on more than one occasion, and would like to know if there's anything that can be done on my part to remedy this problem. After laboriously preparing a post, I've sometimes tried to preview or submit only to find that I've been automatically logged out, probably based on being timed out. Once the log on page comes up, I seem to be unable to back out an retrieve my post and it is lost forever. I seem to recall that this didn't happen before the site was revised - I could back out to my post, copy, then go to logon and paste my post back in. Is there some way to handle this now that I'm unaware of? I'm kinda getting tired of it.

[BBL]

I normally type mine [longer ones anyhow] in a word processing program and then copy/paste into the posting window. That way you still have your post text available if such a problem arises.

[nisiprius]

Some browsers are better than others at remembering the text you've typed into a textarea. I thought they all were good these days. In Apple Safari, almost all the time, if something happens, I can just hit the "back" button, and when I get back to the "post a reply" page all my text is still there. Firefox seems to be good about this, too.

I don't quite have the discipline to compose my text in a text editor before posting--shame on me. But whenever I've been working on something for a while, I usually do have the presence of mind to hit "select all, copy" from time to time. And then if something goes wrong I usually have the presence of mind not to put anything else in the clipboard until I've first had a chance to paste it, often right back into a fresh "post a reply" window, sometimes into a text editor.

That said, I did notice that Bogleheads.org was in "yo-yo" mode (periodically up and down) from maybe Sunday evening through Monday morning, and during that period of time I did make at least one post where I did stash the posting text in a text editor for safekeeping, and was glad I did.

Here's the funny thing. Ellen Feiss's--the "switcher" of the Apple ads whose PC crashed--complained that she had to do it again in a hurry and it "wasn't as good." But whenever I lose my work and am forced to re-do it, once I get over the pang of loss, I usually find that re-doing it goes much faster the second time around and--contrary to Feiss's experience--I usually do it better the second time around.

[sscritic]

Don't forget save draft.

[retiredjg]

This is quite the frustrating experience. The first time it happened to me I never did find the post. After that, I was more methodical in searching and I found my stuff just by using back, back, back till it appears. I'm using the Safari browser.

I too find there are times when I have to log on over and over. But it goes away and doesn't happen that often any more.

[cheese_breath]

I normally type mine [longer ones anyhow] in a word processing program and then copy/paste into the posting window. That way you still have your post text available if such a problem arises.

Me too. I use MS Word for long posts, and it helps me find multiple spelling errors that I might otherwise miss.

[englishgirl]

It used to happen to me quite frequently. And then stopped happening, and I'm not sure if I did anything that changed it. I may have hit a "remember me" type option, although I do not have it set to log me in automatically. But it was probably just a random thing, and it'll go back to randomly losing posts.

It is quite frustrating, I agree!

[sscritic]

I recommend a previous thread on a similar topic.
viewtopic.php?f=3&t=87440

[Mudpuppy]

I've had this happen on more than one occasion, and would like to know if there's anything that can be done on my part to remedy this problem. After laboriously preparing a post, I've sometimes tried to preview or submit only to find that I've been automatically logged out, probably based on being timed out. Once the log on page comes up, I seem to be unable to back out an retrieve my post and it is lost forever. I seem to recall that this didn't happen before the site was revised - I could back out to my post, copy, then go to logon and paste my post back in. Is there some way to handle this now that I'm unaware of? I'm kinda getting tired of it.

Select the option to "Log me on automatically" when you log in. That will keep logging you back in every time you time out until you click the Logout link. Just make sure to click Logout when you're done if anyone else uses your computer.