Long posts not going in

I just finished a fairly long post (well, not compared to Marin's, but then I don't type at his speed) and when I pressed "submit" it failed to load, as "you have logged in since this post was begun..." or some similar excuse. I hadn't logged in again, I had taken a phone call and come back to complete my post when the call was concluded.
I have 2 complaints with the forum setup in this regard:
1, there is no warning that you are taking too long, and
2, there is no recovery of the post, it simply disappears.

As an old guy, like many, to reconstruct a long post that has been deleted, without something to remind me of all the wisdom contained therein, may leave something out.
Maybe my second go at it will be even better, but I doubt it.

Now that I have vented, I will think about whether my post was important enough to try again.

Greetings,
Mr. k. Phew! From the title I thought it was something that should be moved to OTDE.

I agree with your comments and might add that I've always felt ALL of your posts contribute something to the topic at hand.

While I've not experienced this particular problem I have had posts I've typed or am typing disappear when I've had to go to a different app on the iPad. So I've tried to get into the habit of copying the text I've written thus far before leaving Safari temporarily for another app.

If the time-out feature is an issue, one could do the same thing, I suppose. Copy the text that has been written before leaving the computer/iPad to do something else. Then if you come back and it's gone you can open a new window and paste what you've copied back in and carry on.

RT: Thanks for your kind words.

Marin: Yea, I also have good hindsight. Unfortunately, it doesn't help in this situation.

If I know it's gonna be a long post, I type it in my email or other document app then copy and paste into the post. As I've gotten older I loose my train of thought and my typing seems to have slowed down significantly.
Just a suggestion.

koliver,
Why would'nt it help?
I copy the whole post .. several times on a long post so if something happens most of the post is saved. Then just repost.
And just before posting most any post right after editing copy it. Then post.

Koliver, I've had that same problem. Here is a simple solution. Next to the "submit " button is either the "preview " or "go advaced" button. Type part of your post then hit the "go advanced " or "preview " button. Simply it saves what you wrote. If you try to "submit " and it fails, you can hit the back button and it will be there.

Ted

Ted:

Thanks for the answer. I knew I couldn't be the first one to experience that problem, so there should be a solution out there.
Keith

If I know it's going to be a long post.

I re-think it.

OK, the title to this thread should have been something like "posts that took me a long time to compose....."

I agree with the rethinking part, did that, moved on without commenting on the thread that got me going.

O C Diver said:

Koliver, I've had that same problem. Here is a simple solution. Next to the "submit " button is either the "preview " or "go advaced" button. Type part of your post then hit the "go advanced " or "preview " button. Simply it saves what you wrote. If you try to "submit " and it fails, you can hit the back button and it will be there.

Ted

Click to expand...

Now that suggestion, right there, is probably the best. Failure to launch is rare on this site, but can happen, that suggestion does help allow recovery, but if you want a belt and braces approach, add in Marin's suggestion as well. That is copy to clipboard from time to time just to be safe. Do that, and you'll probably never need it. Kinda like taking an umbrella...

On a long post can you repeatedly hit preview and save more and more of the post? Would be almost the same as edit and copy. I do that several times on a long post and I can do it from "Post Quick Reply".

I used to make all my posts at "Post Reply" but now I post from "Post Quick Reply" unless I intend to post a picture. Then if that comes up in the process of posting on quick reply I copy and paste the first part of my post on quick reply to post reply .. then I can post pics.

But w either one I can use the edit function to copy whatever I've completed of the post at that point. But there's no way to "preview" on quick reply. There dos'nt seem to be any size limit of a post on Post Quick Reply. At first I thought there was probably a cut-off point like there is on the "thanks" function. But there isn't. I thought "quick" meant small. Not so. This is on quick reply.

I'm sorry you lost your post - it sometimes, though rarely happens and is maddening. This can be caused by any number of blips, but usually it's a temporary connection issue; a router somewhere drops a connection briefly or the server has a one second pause, etc...

Most browsers will save your content for a minute. If this happens again (and you have not used an offline editor), the first course is to use the back arrow in your browser to see if you can get back to the last screen and your draft post. DON"T refresh the screen as this will seal your fate. If the back arrow regains your text, copy the text to your clipboard and try resubmitting the post. You can always use the text on your clipboard as a back up.