I’m not sure any member of staff can help me with this problem. If not, then I’m just venting my frustration.
It happened again! I started typing a long response to a post and then came back to finish it hours later. When I submitted it I got a “token expired” error and everything I had typed had vanished into the ether.
Isn’t there any way the software can be adjusted so that whatever you typed will still be there, even if there’s a failed posting?
I found out years ago that the only safe way to compose a lengthy reply
in these places is to do it in a word document and then copy and paste.
It only takes a few seconds longer.
Depending on what browser you use, you may be able to find an extension to it that will help. There are ones available for Firefox and Chrome at least that preserve text in forms when you go back - that would at least allow you to cut and paste it.
I’ve not actually used these extensions, so I can’t say how well they work, but it might be worth trying.
Any time I’ve typed a particularly long or thoughtful reply (yeah, it doesn’t happen often, shaddup) or had a lengthy pause during posting like that, I just Ctrl-C the entire post before I hit Submit. Then if things go haywire, I just have to Ctrl-V it back in and try again. I realize this does not help with what you were actually asking for, but it’s a decent workaround.
I often do the above, but sometimes I forget.
… I just lost my longwinded reply to you.
CTRL+C CTRL+C CTRL+C CTRL+C
The add-on in Firefox is called Lazarus and it works quite well.
Lazarus, eh? I think I’ve got myself another add-on.
This would get me once in a while. I’ve got used to saving, but I think I can usually use the back button and have my writing still be there, to copy before re-opening the thread from scratch.
I think the “Token expired” means you’re no longer logged into the board. You get automatically logged out after a time (20 minutes of inactivity??), and next time you open a thread, you’ll get automatically logged back in, but with a different “token”.
I also think any fix would come from the browser you use, keeping the data you’ve entered, and restoring it with the back button, and not from the board. I use various combinations of Chrome and Firefox, on Linux and Windows 7 and Windows XP, so I don’t know which ones save the text I’ve entered, but at least some do.
I’m not up on the technical inner workings of browsers and vBulletin, so any of the above could be inaccurate, but it seems to fit with what happens to me.
I’ve been bitten by that more than once but I did eventually learn. I just do a select all and copy with the mouse before I hit submit just in case. Don’t even have to open another program.
If you have a slower computer and find that Lazarus: Form Recovery slows you down, try TextArea Cache. It’s not as easy to use, as you have to click on the icon and then scroll through to find that last post, but it does seem to be faster.
Still, Lazarus has a new beta that claims to be faster, and even has Safari and Chrome versions now, so maybe that’s a better option.