# What to do after you receive errors after posting **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [November 5, 2002, 6:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-after-you-receive-errors-after-posting/135330 "2002-11-05T06:54:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Urban\_Ranger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/e9c0ed/32.png) [@Urban\_Ranger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Urban_Ranger)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2002, 6:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-after-you-receive-errors-after-posting/135330/1 "2002-11-05T06:54:15Z")
Click back, then click refresh. Most of the time your post would have been accepted. You can make a copy of your reply before refreshing, just in case your browser isn’t up to snuff. ---
**Author:** ![Achernar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e274bd/32.png) [@Achernar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Achernar)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2002, 7:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-after-you-receive-errors-after-posting/135330/2 "2002-11-05T07:10:26Z")
Well, don’t pick Refresh on the “Thank you for posting” screen. I think that almost guarantees you a double-post. ---
**Author:** ![TheLoadedDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@TheLoadedDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheLoadedDog)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2002, 7:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-after-you-receive-errors-after-posting/135330/3 "2002-11-05T07:37:25Z")
I’ve learned this the hard way. Having hopefully remembered to copy the text of my post, just in case, I like to start from scratch to ensure no double post: I go to the SDMB’s main page on my favourites, then navigate back to the forum I’d posted in to see if my username is listed under “last post” in the thread in question. Usually, I find it is. If not, then I’ve got the post on my clipboard, and I try again. ---
**Author:** ![Ice\_Wolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/dfb087/32.png) [@Ice\_Wolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ice_Wolf)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2002, 7:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-after-you-receive-errors-after-posting/135330/4 "2002-11-05T07:50:17Z")
Ditto to what **TheLoadedDog** said, but I also open up another window and do my checking that way. Doesn’t happen much these days, because I tend to stay clear of the traffic-jam periods. ---
**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:** [November 5, 2002, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-after-you-receive-errors-after-posting/135330/5 "2002-11-05T19:59:49Z")
You can also use “preview” to check whether it went through. No risk of losing your text, that way. ---
**Author:** ![Dunmurry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d2c977/32.png) [@Dunmurry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dunmurry)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2002, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-after-you-receive-errors-after-posting/135330/6 "2002-11-07T15:32:16Z")
I sometimes have a problem. When I do a Search, it prompts me for a Username and Password before alllowing me access to the search page. I perform a search and then go to the main board. I look at a thread and then click “Post Reply”, and says I am not logged in, even though I did not log out. Also, sometimes when starting a new thread or posting a reply, I click the “Submit Post” button, and it asks me to log in. I then click “Back” and it says “This page has expired”. Therefore I lose whatever I was going to post. ---
**Author:** ![xash](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/c6cbf5/32.png) [@xash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xash)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2002, 6:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-after-you-receive-errors-after-posting/135330/7 "2002-11-08T06:13:20Z")
**Dunmurry** , 1. Always first login. If at the bottom of a thread, below the “Your Reply” box you do not see Logged in user: Dunmurry then you have to login first. Logging in from below the “Your Reply” box has been known to not take you to the thread, but instead to an invalid page. 2. ALWAYS copy the contents of your post before you hit preview or submit. 3. If you’re gonna be using vBcode, then as a general rule, use preview reply. If you think language/grammar errors might be relevant in the context of the post, use preview reply. Otherwise click Submit Reply. Others, Avoid using the back button after a failed “Submit Reply” operation, even if it takes you to an error page. This tends to create double posts. Instead go to the thread you were trying to post in, directly. Do this by either opening threads in new windows, so you can use the main forum page to open the thread again, or, if you don’t like using new windows, just copy the thread’s url, so you can paste it if you need to access it directly. ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2002, 6:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-after-you-receive-errors-after-posting/135330/8 "2002-11-08T06:31:31Z")
If I get an error message and I’m still on the same submit page, I will often used the preview button. This reloads the thread and saves the text. If I get an error message and the page has changed, I will use the back button, and then do one of two things. Either copy the text to the clipboard and then hit refresh or use the preview button. ---
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2002, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-after-you-receive-errors-after-posting/135330/9 "2002-11-08T15:24:44Z")
I open a new browser window (For some reason, I have a feeling people don’t know you can have a whole bunch open at once) then copy & paste the URL of the message I posted to that isn’t processing to the URL window of the new page, hit return & check to see if my post showed up. If so, then I close the post thats sitting there laughing at me waiting to say ‘thank you for posting’ ---
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2002, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-after-you-receive-errors-after-posting/135330/10 "2002-11-08T15:37:27Z")
I open a new browser window (For some reason, I have a feeling people don’t know you can have a whole bunch open at once) then copy & paste the URL of the message I posted to that isn’t processing to the URL window of the new page, hit return & check to see if my post showed up. If so, then I close the post thats sitting there laughing at me waiting to say ‘thank you for posting’ ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2002, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-after-you-receive-errors-after-posting/135330/11 "2002-11-09T18:53:11Z")
Is that why you got a double post here, **handy**?