# Fair warning: Do NOT compose your post before logging in **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [May 2, 2002, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fair-warning-do-not-compose-your-post-before-logging-in/106910 "2002-05-02T18:54:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2002, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fair-warning-do-not-compose-your-post-before-logging-in/106910/1 "2002-05-02T18:54:51Z")
Maybe others can benefit from my misfortune if I share it here. I duplicated the problem, so I think it wasn’t just a burp. If you have cleared your cookies, or otherwise haven’t logged in, and compose a post in the handy window at the bottom, then if you submit it, you will encounter a screen asking you to log in. If you click “back” to retrieve your post, it will be gone. If you continue forward, it will be gone, and you will be told that you haven’t selected a forum. You’ll have to go around the world to get back where you were, and you’ll have to write a new post. Usually, I compose my posts in Notepad or paste them there before submitting. This happened to me on one of the rare times I didn’t. Murphy’s law, I suppose. I hope this is the right forum. I didn’t intend a rant, but merely a board related public service. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2002, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fair-warning-do-not-compose-your-post-before-logging-in/106910/2 "2002-05-03T00:25:59Z")
I think that this _might_ be browser-specific, as I’m pretty sure that I’ve backed to my message again (in Netscape 4.x) when this happened. But if you use Netscape and get bitten by this, don’t sue me. Which browser do you use, **Libertarian**? ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2002, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fair-warning-do-not-compose-your-post-before-logging-in/106910/3 "2002-05-03T00:28:04Z")
We allude to this in the technical issues FAQ when we mention that logging in from the Quick Reply box doesn’t work. Don’t use the Quick Reply box unless your name shows up as the logged in user. ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2002, 9:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fair-warning-do-not-compose-your-post-before-logging-in/106910/4 "2002-05-03T09:32:30Z")
Internet Explorer 6.x, Chronos. It doesn’t happen when you’re changing the login from say, Edlyn to Libertarian, but only when your cookies have been altogether cleared. * * * A good lesson for me, Arnold. I’m going to review the FAQs right away. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2002, 9:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fair-warning-do-not-compose-your-post-before-logging-in/106910/5 "2002-05-03T09:44:02Z")
The message only disappears (on my machine) when the browser reloads the page (which sometimes happens and sometimes doesn’t - I’m not sure of the exact criteria). I tend to copy the text I am posting to the clipboard if it’s something I’d have trouble retyping. ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2002, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fair-warning-do-not-compose-your-post-before-logging-in/106910/6 "2002-05-03T19:21:31Z")
I’ve tried to post without noticing that I wasn’t logged in before, and I was always able to back up, ^C the text and paste it into notepad, then login. But now this isn’t happening…when I use “back”, I find the quick reply window is blank, when it used to keep the text. Did you all make a change? ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2002, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fair-warning-do-not-compose-your-post-before-logging-in/106910/7 "2002-05-03T19:37:11Z")
Lemur866 - make a change between which date and which date? Without knowing the time periods to which you refer, I am going to answer “No, us all did not make a change.” ---
**Author:** ![Winnowill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/4491bb/32.png) [@Winnowill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Winnowill)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2002, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fair-warning-do-not-compose-your-post-before-logging-in/106910/8 "2002-05-04T19:56:55Z")
Hmm. I have been asked to log in when posting from the Quick Reply box. I have logged in, it has thanked me, and gone on to post my post. Not only have I not lost anything, I don’t even have to go back and hit Submit again. This was the case as recently as yesterday. FTR, I’m running IE 6.0 on Windows 2000 at work (IE 6.0 on XP Pro at home, where this theory has not been tested.) ---
**Author:** ![kitarak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/898d66/32.png) [@kitarak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kitarak)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2002, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fair-warning-do-not-compose-your-post-before-logging-in/106910/9 "2002-05-05T14:43:06Z")
It depends on your browser. I use opera for most of my net browsing and until recently used it to read the SDMB (I’m now using mozilla as opera and cookies don’t get along very well). It did keep the text in window, and what I often ended up doing was this: I typed up the post, entering my password and user name. I submitted it, and was then asked to login. I logged in and it said there was no thread specified. I went back twice, typed in my password again (the post and user name were still there), submitted it, and the post went through.