Forum eating my writing

[Gregor]

I just spent nearly an hour on formulating a lengthy reply to a question posted by another user.
Problem was that in the meanwhile (as it took time to get the various thoughts together and into a form that is coherent and easy to follow) the login silently timed out so when submitting my post I was first greeted by the login screen and afterwards by a blank compose window.

That was, mildly worded, disappointing.

Please make sure the forum treats the lifetime of users who spend scarce free time here on helping others with some decency.

[Tinker]

Once or twice in the past,  i have done a rather long post.  I just do the composing on my word program and when finished, i copy onto my FOG reply.  Or if i did not realize the post was going to be so long, I copy the message  before sending.  That way, if I get the phase out message I can just paste back onto the message page.
Tinker

[SRSemenza]

Sorry that happened. I have been there too.    We leave the login time out up to the user.  There is also a save as draft feature available. 

Sorry,

  Seth

[Gregor]

While you all may be correct with your suggestions (that I normally also employ, but the post got longer than intended and I concentrated on it, not on dealing with defective forum software): These are workarounds for an issue that should not exist in the first place.

If one could go back in the browser history to retrieve the text it wouldn't be that bad, but since irrecoverably discarding user input being the best equivalent of a middle finger that a computer can express toward a human... it should not happen.

Seth, thank you for your condolences - nevertheless, please fix this.

At least modify the 'Minutes to stay logged in' (default 120 minutes) to be a timeout since the last action (and count previewing a post as an action) instead of determining a fixed time in relation to the moment of login (as it seems to be, or previewing a post dosn't reset the timer).

Technical note: Manual logout while composing, login, then going back in browser history dosn't destroy the contents of the textarea - but timeout-logout does, most likely through redirecting to the compose page with empty content delivered by the server which then wipes the contents from the browser cache. Bug. Fix. Please.

[copcarcollector]

I have the 'always stay logged in' checked and never log out, 
Perhaps this is a quick and easy fix you can also employ...

[Alex]

Technical note: Manual logout while composing, login, then going back in browser history dosn't destroy the contents of the textarea - but timeout-logout does, most likely through redirecting to the compose page with empty content delivered by the server which then wipes the contents from the browser cache. Bug. Fix. Please.

That's the whole point of logout, the connection is cut and all user data reset, whiping all traces of a user's latest activity so it can't be retrieved from outside. Standard safety feature.

not on dealing with defective forum software): These are workarounds for an issue that should not exist in the first place.

It's not defective software either, but just two different settings within the software. Many websites have a timed logout as a safety feature. This forum gives you the option to stay logged in, but you have to tick the checkbox when you log in.

I understand it's frustrating to lose a lengthy reply, as a regular forum user for the last 20 years it happened to me often on many different websites. Connection reset, browser crashes, computer freezes, server crashing, ISP failure ...... it all happened to me at one point or another. To protect your work on longer replies it is a good practice to have a separate text editor open as backup and save regularly.

[Tinker]

While you all may be correct with your suggestions (that I normally also employ, but the post got longer than intended and I concentrated on it, not on dealing with defective forum software): These are workarounds for an issue that should not exist in the first place.

If one could go back in the browser history to retrieve the text it wouldn't be that bad, but since irrecoverably discarding user input being the best equivalent of a middle finger that a computer can express toward a human... it should not happen.

Seth, thank you for your condolences - nevertheless, please fix this.

At least modify the 'Minutes to stay logged in' (default 120 minutes) to be a timeout since the last action (and count previewing a post as an action) instead of determining a fixed time in relation to the moment of login (as it seems to be, or previewing a post dosn't reset the timer).

Technical note: Manual logout while composing, login, then going back in browser history dosn't destroy the contents of the textarea - but timeout-logout does, most likely through redirecting to the compose page with empty content delivered by the server which then wipes the contents from the browser cache. Bug. Fix. Please.

Not too many FOGers are stupider than Yours truly  when it comes to computers. Even I have had the same problems and have figured out ways to work around such problems.  I do not decide whenever a problems shows its ugly head that the site has a deficiency.  My first thought is "What did I do wrong now?" I think this FOG web site is one of the best sites and most accommodating of any that is out there.  If you read all of the above replies suggesting ways around your problem, they are all good ones.  My suggestion, beyond my original reply is to try the solutions that fit your situation best.
Tinker

[Gregor]

Disclosure: I work IT for 30+ years now and have spend quite some time of that on removing exactly this kind of issues from session aware websites to stop them from annoying their users.

I realize now (awake and rested) that I put my post, which was ment as a bug report, into the wrong section - provoking an unintended flow of comments to help (thanks all for taking the time to write these, even when it's owls to athen for my case, and sorry for wasting your time by filing in the wrong section) - so I'll ask the moderators to please move this to Forum Suggestions and put the reported defect on the todo-list for the IT guys.