frustration!

[jen kalb]

For the second time I just lost a long post, going and looking for links to append. When I got back, my draft post had disappeared and I had to start again. Even though I was careful to open an additional window to locate the link

With the old site, this wouldnt occur, you could backspace back to the page and the edited text would still be there.

Since its nice to have more complex posts, with links etc and not just be a chat, would it be possible to correct this problem, chowhound team?

[Cheese Boy]

Jen, two solutions. I do this frequently enough, so I know it is foolproof. I just hope I understood your problem correctly. Cutting and pasting from a text processor like Word is an option, no argument there. I have two viable alternative solutions. If I'm in the middle of keying in a long post, I do one of two things if I have to go find a link:

(1) I open *another* window and bring up CH to do my queries or searches, etc. (Don't mess with the page you're typing the reply in. You're likely to lose something if you go searching around).

(2) OR, I go ahead and *post* my reply in CH (even if it's incomplete!). When I come back from searching for my links, the post is completely intact because I posted it. I understand there is a small window of opportunity here, timewise, but it works! I just go ahead, edit my post, and enter my link (or any other additions). Chances are you're not going to spend a whole lot of time searching anyhow for your links. The time allotted for editing should suffice. Problem solved.

If you're concerned that someone might have read your post while you were searching ... just include the word "Added" after your link or somewhere in the reply. This will imply that the post was edited or revisited by you.

[hatless]

...or maybe the developers should fix the page expiration settings so it's not so aggressive.

[Chuckles the Clone]

Does your browser allow you to open an additional window or tab to do
your searching? I always assume that any text that's not visible is gone,
so when I'm writing and need to find another page, I open it in a completely
new window. This isn't a fix, obviously, but maybe it will help to work around
the issue?

[jen kalb]

I usually try to open a new internet window to locate and capture the link, as you and Cheeseboy suggest, but sometimes I forget where I am, navigating around all over the place and will hit "back" on my new post window. After all I am usually jumping around with email and other document and internet windows at the same time - hitting the back key on the page obliterates my post, and that is what I am complaining about since the old site was more forgiving and it seems unnecessary. I really do appreciate the helpful suggestions tho -

[The Dairy Queen]

I know it's not exactly what you want, but, nevertheless, I'll add some suggestions for coping strategies.

This topic came up before and a lot of people replied saying they (like others in this thread) compose their posts in Word and cut and paste their posts into Chowhound when they are done. Someone (sorry, I wish I could give credit but can't remember who) even said she composes in e-mail, particularly recipes, so she can e-mail it to herself so she'll always have it handy to e-mail friends, etc. I admire those folks for their forethought and discipline. :)

When I write a long post, I want to spell-check it, so, I usually drop it into Word when I'm done composing to spell check it anyway. But, I seldom intend for my posts (like this one) to be that long and, therefore, usually do not start in Word. On those occasions, where I suddenly realize I need to click around a bit to look for something --refer back to another post or Google something--before I finish my post, I highlight my in-process post in my Chowhound window, and hit ctrl C to put it in my buffer. Once it's in my buffer, I can click around to my heart's content (sometimes, I'll even do that ctrl C thing in the middle of composing a post, like right now, even if I don't intend to click around, "just in case" I hit a wrong button and it all goes up in a poof of pixels, knowing that if my text accidentally disappears, I can ctrl P to put it back.)

The only thing you have to be careful not to do is, while clicking around, use ctrl C to put something ELSE into your buffer, because you'll, of course, lose whatever you had in your buffer in the first place (in those cases, I hope that my in process post is still there in my Chowhound compose window when I get back.)

Finally, true confessions, sometimes I'm in a hurry and don't have time to do any of the above, but still intend to include a link in my post. That's when I rely on the two-hour edit feature of Chowhound. I just go ahead and post my post, but tack a sentence to the bottom that says something like, "I'll go grab the link to X and drop it in here." Then, I post it. After that, I go do whatever Googling or searching I need to do, come back to my post, click on edit, and drop in the link. On occasions like that, whenever I add some important new text in, I usually precede the new text with "EDIT:" so people aren't left wondering whether I ever did go grab the llnk I was talking about or whatever.

I hope this helps.

~TDQ

[jen kalb]

that last suggestion is probably the best.

another question - when I am typing a response or new post, recently Ive had the annoying experience - actually I'm having it right now of not being able to see the last words I typed in the window if it gets to the end of the line. This very window cuts off the last couple letters of each line as I am typing. How can that be corrected - I dont seem to be able to resize this Reply window?

[The Dairy Queen]

I have that same problem. I'm not sure if it's connected. Maybe we should post on user help and catch the attention of one of the Chowtechs?

~TDQ

[The Chowhound Team]

Problem reports of that sort should really go on Feedback: Report Problems rather than User Help. Here's the current thread on that particular problem: http://www.chowhound.com/topics/342950

It seems to be mostly affecting users of IE6, but not all of them and not all the time so it's difficult to track down.

[Chris VR]

I'm the emailer :-) and particularly glad of it right now, because my hard drive crashed and I'd have lost everything. Because that stuff is all emailed, it's on my email server (not my hard drive). Whew!

[The Dairy Queen]

Good discipline almost always pays off, Chris! I'm glad you didn't lose all your recipes!

~TDQ

[jen kalb]

I am limited to Microsoft Explorer . whatever, this is should work on Microsoft explorer, IMO

it was not a problem with the old site software/same browser on my end.

overall, the lack of facilitation of links and pix makes this site weaker than it should be, much as I love and appreciate....

[susancinsf]

It was definitely a problem for me with the old site software, using Microsoft. You probably just were lucky!

Sorry to say, I think saving in Word first is the way to go; something I learned the hard way (on the old site).

[jen kalb]

susan, that kind of consistency wasnt a lucky thing. It always worked before. Ive been able to work around to my computer not deleting cookies and remembering this site, tho every time they push a software update I have to reset, but this losing the text if I backspace by mistake is driving me crazy. Im not going to go to the trouble of creating my stuff elsewhere - usually I am in the midst of a post before I decide to link anyway.

[Chris VR]

I think this a browser issue, Jen. I don't have that problem. When I leave a page and backspace back, the post I was writing comes back. I'm using Camino (Firefox) on a Mac.

[MMRuth]

I know this isn't the ideal solution, but when I know I'm going to be writing a long post, I do it in Word, save, and then cut and paste to CH. Just happened to me this morning though while I was almost finished typing in a recipe.