I would like to describe the process by which I enter most of my more lengthy posts. I want to do that in order to make some suggestion or - at least - describe the problem I’ve been having in order to formulate the need for some suggestion.
Since this forum prevents me from editing a message I’ve typed after it’s been posted for 5 minutes or longer (I’m just guessing the time limit is 5 minutes), when I need to write a somewhat lengthy post, I will either write it into my editor and then, when I’m confident that it is ready to be posted, I will copy it to the forum or, alternatively, I will type it into the “Preview Post” window and look back and forth between that window and the preview of the post.
It’s more convenient to stay within my Internet browser (I use Firefox) than it is to use my editor. So I reserve using the editor for the most lengthy posts. However, I’d like to describe a problem I encounter when switching back and forth between the “Preview Post” window and the preview of that post. The problem is that if I am ever interrupted while editing my post and there are many reasons why I can be interrupted, and I need to save the post by clicking on “Submit Reply”, then I only have 5 minutes more to make any final changes to my post.
One problem I find very irritating is that the two buttons “Submit Reply” and “Preview Post” are so close together, it is perhaps, close to the tolerance of a human hair. It has happened more than once that I have accidently hit the wrong button and submitted a post that was not really ready. But, there are other causes of being interrupted and saving the post prematurely. These include computer problems, real life interruptions, etc.
So, I was going to make a suggestion to fix this problem. But as I understand it, the people who are capable of making this change are not really very likely to be persuaded to do that, which I think is fairly understandable. As a result, I’m not sure what to suggest or what to do. But I really wanted to explain the problem to you and identify the reason why I can get kind of cranky as a result of this scenario.
I understand what you’re saying, but personally I don’t really think you should be using “Submit Post” to save an unfinished post, because “Submit Post”…well, submits the post. For everyone to read. And if it’s unfinished and still requires editing, that’s going to be confusing for everyone reading the thread. If you want to save it as a draft, you should save it separately in a text editing program.
Also, if you find that you are likely to accidentally hit “Submit Post” instead of “Preview Post” frequently, you should probably do all of your drafts in the text editor separately, even though it is slightly less convenient for you. I mean, it’s not that difficult to cut and paste from a separate window.
You are, of course, entirely correct. I failed to make it clear that when said I saved a post by clicking “Submit Post”, I was referring to emergencies, such as an imminent computer shutdown or some similar kind of emergency that had to be handled within a few seconds and did not allow for enough time to cut and paste the document into my editor. Of course, those kinds of emergencies are quite rare. For most of my lengthy posts, I use my editor.
Because for posting a quick message - such as a quick reply to someone’s post, it is most convenient to just click on the “Submit Reply” button and write my post.
Do you use your editor to write all your posts?
I would guess that most people just enter their posts directly into the board and hardly ever use their editors - especially if their posts tend to be rather brief.
I think this is the case. I think most people do not invest quite so much time into many of their posts. That is not to say their posts are not thoughtful or well written, they just do not require a lot of time to compose and review. For most, editing generally takes the form of fixing typos or adding that all to important “not”.
So, if the situation is affecting you, you may need to compose your posts differently than many do, by using a text editor.
Moderator intervention:
The original title of this thread (“The reason I can become kind of cranky…”) is misleading, and indicates that it belongs in MPSIMS. The thread is really about whether the two buttons PREVIEW and SUBMIT can be moved further apart, and the answer is they can’t. Other posters are making suggestions on how to handle the problem, and that’s fine. I am therefore editing the thread title to be clearer to other readers.
No, but I rarely if ever accidentally click Submit Reply when I meant to click Preview Post. If you find that this is a common problem for you, you’re going to have to sacrifice a tiny amount of convenience in order to deal with it.
How long have you been here, Guin? Long enough to either a) be able to guess, or b) know what to do if there’s no announcement of a banning. Maybe both.
