Forum technical problem. Help?
 

I am having a problem. I log in, view a topic, and compose a reply. When I submit the reply, I get a request to log in again. When I do so, every thing I have typed disappears.

What gives?

not sure;

you have the "remember me" checked?

Have you cleared your cookie for this site? (if you do it for all, it will delete your cookies for banks, other sites etc, so although perhaps it is required be aware what will happen. Likely you have a messed up cookie...


From this kind of problem happening on other sites, if I have a posting more than a couple of sentances, I 'try' to remember and copy the text I have written; then I can paste it if it happens again.

Ed

It is the old "timeout" problem that has been reported before. If you take too long to compose your reply your log-in times out and when you post everything you have written is gone. That is why if I have a long post or need to refer to reference material I compose the text in Word and then post the completed text on the forum.
I know, I have been told that it is probably a setting on my computer or a problem with my ISP, but there isn't anything I can do with my computer and I certainly can't alter the performance of my ISP. So I just live with it and do like Ed does, either copy what I have written before I post or compose in another medium and then copy and paste.

Unspellable,

I have this happen too often because I write too much. :p It has nothing to do with your cookies or whether you do or do not a have the "remember me" box checked. Nor does it have anything to do with your ISP. It's this site's time delay software settings. They exist to avoid clogging the site with people who log in and go out for lunch, overloading the site.

But this can be overdone, and the pause time setting for this site's software is far too short, in my humble opinion. This should be easily fixable, but that feature may not be accessible or visible to our host, depending upon how the software was written. Maybe the software designer or seller would know. But it's not worth worrying about or bothering the site owner, because the user work-around is easy.

When you get the Dread Message with the empty white boxes, if you simply single click the "Login" button, you should move along normally and everything you drafted should appear in preview, if you had just clicked the preview button before the dread message appeared, that is. If you click the other button (not "Login"), the whole works is lost. You start from scratch. And don't fill in the empty white boxes. You'll just foul up the works.

So the way to dodge this whole mess:

1. If you draft a long message, never just click "Submit Reply"when ready to do so. Click "Preview" first, mostly to find out whether you have waited too long.

2. If you then get the Dread Message, click only the "Login" button. You will see your message previewed and you can move along normally; post it or continue to edit.

3. Then, don't wait as long before clicking "Submit Reply". ...or you're back at Square One.

Doing it as above, there's no need to draft within one application and then cut and paste into another. Simpler is always better.

It is set for for 1200 seconds, so you would have to be inactive for 20 minutes.

I can check with John and see if this can / should be expanded.


ed

He Ed, & John D. Please check your PM's.

Hi Ed and John (and all!)..

Actually - based on this thread I read earlier - it was only this morning I set it up to 1200 seconds. After John's PM - I've just expanded that to 1800 seconds to "time out"... I'd give you a log explanation of what all this means - but I won't bore you.. Sooooo

For those who were having issues - can you log out of the forum - and then log back in. When you do - your new Cookie should be set for 1800 seconds.. If it works for all - we'll run with it, OK??

My best to all - and my thanks!!!

John D.

John D.,

Thanks much. 20 minutes! Didn't think I was that long winded. Guess I was wrong. Anyhow, this should solve it for most people unless they fall asleep at the keyboard. :roflmao:

Guys -

I am not a computer person, but here is what I do to avoid getting kicked off in the middle of a post that I am writing:

1. I type up everything I want to say using my ordinary Microsoft Word software.

2. Then when I've got it all proofread and any corrections made, I do a "Select All" and then a "Copy" of what I've written.

3. Then I log into the Forum, and open up a blank message or posting format on the Forum.

4. Then I just "Paste" my long message into the blank message block, and it's all done in a matter of seconds.

This way I never have to worry about the system "Timing Out" on me while I am in the middle of struggling with what I want to post, etc.

I think other members have mentioned this option too.

Hope this is helpful.

Mauser720 - Ron