On several occasions I have replied to or started a new thrend,spent maybe an hour or more making sure the i's are dotted, the spelling right, maybe 50 to,100 words, I go to preview the text, and I'll be damned, it goes to never never land, just disappears,and I can't get it back, like I never wrote it,what the #*&%#+ is goin on?

it happen to me at 7:55 pm 5/11/04

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StingrayJim
NCM Lifetime Member #1936

Stingray's '76���������������������������� StingrayJr's '78���������������������������Lil Red '94

(click each one to see a bigger version)

Had the same thing happen a month ago. I don't know why. Maybe my browser has timed out after what it recognizes as "inactivity?" Maybe it's something with this site?

My trick is to preview about every four to five minutes (if I'm in deep contemplation about my post) or after each 'graph (when I'm on a roll).

Previewing serves a similar purpose as saving.

That's the best I can offer. Hope it helps.

John

If I have a long post or reply I found it safer to type it in word and copy/past it to the forum. It all so lets me use speel checker as well.

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Brian - NCM Lifetime Member

73 coupe L48, Flat-top pistons, Performer RPM Heads, Crane Cam and roller rockers, Holley 650 vac sec. Performer intake,
3.55 gear BTO 200-4R trans,
Leather seats, Seatbelt Plus 3point seatbelts, Pioneer CD player
Magnaflow Exhuast System

There is a timer on the web site that will log you out after a period of inactivity. I believe that is a requirement of the hosting site (Adam, correct me if I'm wrong!). Several of you have already mentioned a way to beat that which is to preview your post every so often, kind of like the auto save feature in Microsoft Word.

Another trick that I have found is to open an IM (Instant Message) window. It refreshes itself quite frequently and that seems to satisfy the activity requirement.

Regardless, if you lose a session while typing just go ahead and log in again. If your message doesn't reappear just as you left it, try clicking on your browser's 'Back' button. Sometimes the page is still there and you can continue on.

Working on a long response in Word, WordPad, NotePad or some other text editor is a good idea also.

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Jim Olson 

"The Toys"...!!!  Save the Wave!

Where I've been in a Corvette...!!!

Redwingvette said: If I have a long post or reply I found it safer to type it in word and copy/past it to the forum. It all so lets me use speel checker as well.

guess you didnt do it this time though..

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http://www.vetteprojects.com/bmv

Stingray - I have to say... that is one of the prettiest C3's I have ever seen.

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|IMG|http://www.C3VR.com/member_uploads/3701_3800/3714/duskbgoddesssmall.jpg|/IMG| |B|Semper Fidelis! |/B|

There are two possible reasons for what happened to you...

1) There is a session "Timeout" function built into this site and most sites that require you to log in. It is meant to be a security feature so that if you log in, walk away from your computer for awhile, someone else can't walk up and mess around with your account. The timeout was set to 40 minutes. Which means if you click the "Reply" or "Post New Thread" button, and take more than 40 minutes to enter the message before clicking "Preview" or "Post", your session will timeout and when you do finally click "Preview" or "Post" the site will either take you back to the Login page or if you have it set to automatically log you in, it will return you to the Messgage Entry page. In either case, it will have lost what you typed in. In response to this issue, I just increased the timeout to 90 minutes.

2) There occasionally is a problem with the site "restarting" which ends the session of anyone logged in which will have the same effect as #1 above. This was an issue the past few days but seems to have cleared up now. This also has occured in the past, but usually is not a problem.

That being said, here is what I do if I am typing a long response, like this one...
1) Type it in the Message Entry page, just like normal.
2) Before you click "Preview" or "Post", copy the entire text to the clipboard. (On a Windows PC, you can press CTRL-A to select all the text, then press CTRL-C to copy to the clipboard.)
3) Click "Preview" or "Post". If the message posts, then you're in the clear. If it didn't post correctly, you can just Paste it back into the message entry form. (CTRL-V on Windows PCs).

To be extra safe, you can Paste it to Notepad, Word or some other application after you Copy it in step 2.

Hopefully this is not a major issue for most of you, but if you are worried about losing an hour of typing, being cautious is a good idea.

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-Adam Wartell
NCM Lifetime Member #1222
Founder: C3 Vette Registry 
C4 Vette Registry, C6 Vette Registry

My first Vette, now owned by JB79:

THANKS EVERYBODY

Of course I am never known for long responses...

But, when I have typed a response and tried to post after time out, I hit post and the log in has appeared. I log in, then hit the back button until my post I typed appeared again, then hit post again, and it has always worked. Just another way.