Tech: why posts go missing

Subject: RE: Tech: why posts go missing
From: Joe Offer
Date: 05 Oct 17 - 06:19 PM

You've been watching too many cartoons, MMario....

Subject: RE: Tech: why posts go missing
From: MMario
Date: 03 Oct 17 - 12:39 PM

It's the penguins. One of their many schemes for world-wide domination.

Subject: RE: Tech: why posts go missing
From: Steve Gardham
Date: 03 Oct 17 - 12:20 PM

Thanks for the t

Subject: RE: Tech: why posts go missing
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 03 Oct 17 - 11:16 AM

Sometimes after you hit Submit, it takes a while for the post to actually be submitted. During that process, the "lock washer" on the title bar spins. If you absent-mindedly close that tab before the spinning has stopped, your post may not make it.

This advice assumes your eyes are good enough to see the itty-bitty washer and to tell if it is spinning or not.

Subject: RE: Tech: why posts go missing
From: DaveRo
Date: 03 Oct 17 - 07:45 AM

Isn't it just simpler to open a text editor...

No. It's an extra ctrl-v - plus any opening, closing, etc of the text editor. But you might get a nicer editor.

Easiest is a browser-extension: it requires no effort and you can't forget.

Subject: RE: Tech: why posts go missing
From: Stanron
Date: 03 Oct 17 - 07:15 AM

Isn't it just simpler to open a text editor, write in there, then copy and paste to the input box and click on 'Submit Message'?

Mind you I nearly started typing this directly into the input box.

Subject: RE: Tech: why posts go missing
From: Mr Red
Date: 03 Oct 17 - 04:40 AM

Preview ☑
Cntrl-A ☑
Cntrl-C ☑
Submit ☑
Check ☑
Try Again ☑
wait for WiFi re-connect ☑
BT Homepage ☑
Log-in ☑
Try Again ☑
Aha! ☑
Voila!

(repeat for this post, and repeat again) ☑

Subject: RE: Tech: why posts go missing
From: Mr Red
Date: 03 Oct 17 - 04:25 AM

it's worth checking to see if someone else has posted while I was writing (note to self to re-boot brain)

Been there. My main beef is the BT (notso) HotSpot. It will disconnect when it feels like it, probably during your input and you only see it when you "send". It is unbelievably unprofessional now. They reduced the ads, and pepper it with news and more overtly clickbait. The update has the wonderful facility that refresh merely re-writes what you got, it doesn't poll the server. You have to open a new tab of the same page to reveal the log-in. This was not the case before, you could re-fresh and get the log-in. It takes time to rewire your brain to the new order. Personally I regard this as bad programming. I do have enough experience to validate that statement. I see no marketing benefit for such crass thinking.

On the back of all this - I am sure there are packets going missing, you can see it in the structure of their own homepage, at times. It may be a swag of JavaScript, certainly images fail, and then it says it has finished, with big black squares for images!

crash for unknown reasons means all postulation is on-side till proven otherwise! When I used to design with TTL (remember that?) there was a thing called race hazard. Think asynchronicity.
And Russian ain't off the hook - yet. PAL!

Don't forget - good advice is worth repeating. (Cntrl-A Cntrl-C Submit Check)

Subject: RE: Tech: why posts go missing
From: Joe Offer
Date: 03 Oct 17 - 12:51 AM

I just posted a message to the Las Vegas thread, and it didn't post. Luckily, I have gotten into the habit of saving most messages before posting. All it takes is to hit [CTRL-A] (highlight all) and [CTRL-C] (copy all), and you've saved it. Then go back to your message to see if it posted. If it didn't, hit [CTRL-V] (paste), and submit the message again. You may want to refresh [F5] the thread to give your message a better chance of posting.
-Joe-

Subject: RE: Tech: why posts go missing
From: GUEST,.gargoyle
Date: 28 Sep 17 - 09:18 PM

Wow! The lost data just occurred while posting a reply to you....blessed be....It was composed on ... and can be resent.

Dear Mr. Red,

I once thought like you...but a technician, showed me "universal time signatures and the micro seconds based on the new year at Greenwich UK.

I also experienced your sort of "paranoia" regarding the Mudcat.

You have the solution correct....compose and save important communications to Note Pad first.

If you do a "trace route" or "ping" you may be amazed at the number of "hops" it takes to get from your server to the MC. Run the same information a one second later and the "packet" route may have changed. An "accident" can occurs in any link.

You respond like a "spoiled child."

Sincerely.
Gargoyle

It is quite a miracle "Al Gore's creation" even works. To be even more amazed...place the term "view-source:" before the mudcat DOT org usual address and marvel at what MAX has created... the html code scrolls on-and-on.

Subject: RE: Tech: why posts go missing
From: punkfolkrocker
Date: 28 Sep 17 - 09:06 PM

Good intentions - I know I should compose posts first in notepad, but never remember to...

Subject: RE: Tech: why posts go missing
From: Stanron
Date: 28 Sep 17 - 08:49 PM

Wherever I'm posting, I write it first in a text editor. Especially if it's a long post, because it's worth checking to see if someone else has posted while I was writing. I then copy and paste into the forum. If it fails to take then I just paste again.

It actually happened here today. I think I might have clicked on 'Home' too soon. Anyhow it was still on the clipboard so I pasted it again and it took.

Subject: RE: Tech: why posts go missing
From: punkfolkrocker
Date: 28 Sep 17 - 08:28 PM

My problem isn't really with mudcat [copy and check it posted]..
but with chrome browser, that after recent updates has taken to spontaneously closing just as I'm writing a long post and am about to copy it... 😣

Subject: RE: Tech: why posts go missing
From: Tattie Bogle
Date: 28 Sep 17 - 06:20 PM

Yes, I have lost several posts that just haven't "taken" - usually longer or more complex ones, so all the more frustrating if you've spent ages phrasing it just right! Sometimes going back just takes you back to a blank box. So I guess best to copy every potential post to Clipboard so you don't lose it! (Just gonnae dae that!)

Subject: RE: Tech: why posts go missing
From: DaveRo
Date: 28 Sep 17 - 03:59 PM

There are browser addons which will copy the text automatically so you can retrieve it later.

For Firefox I recommend TextArea Cache Lite (which replaces TextArea Cache which will cease to work in Firefox 57). It's not perfect but it works with Mudcat.

I don't use Chrome but I know of Lazarus and Tire I don't know if these work with Mudcat, but I expect so.

My own Mudcat Browser Tools (qv) addon saves the post automatically too, but those addons work with more sites, and save the text even as you're still typing it.

Subject: RE: Tech: why posts go missing
From: punkfolkrocker
Date: 28 Sep 17 - 01:04 PM

Look both ways

duck and cover

blame the dog


These and plenty more similar sayings get us safely through life...

So it's simple enough to add "Copy and check it's posted" to help us continue to survive...... 😜

Subject: RE: Tech: why posts go missing
From: GUEST,Grishka
Date: 28 Sep 17 - 12:56 PM

This is about the umpteenth thread on this topic. The result so far is:

1. In many cases, the reason is known to be the server script crashing.
2. This in turn can be triggered by various conditions, most of which are unknown.
3. Among the known such issues, though not completely deterministic, is a post by a GUEST containing more than two links.
4. Max has decided that these bugs are not severe enough to justify touching the script; full stop and period.

Trying to detect conditions under which the crash is particularly likely can be a wonderful pastime if you have nothing else to talk about. In practice, we proceed as Mr Red wrote: Always copy your contribution to the clipboard before hitting "Submit".

All threads about this topic should be merged, so that at least new contributions are likely to be highly original - as is Mr Red's server theory. What about Russian spies? North Korean hydrogen?

Subject: RE: Tech: why posts go missing
From: GUEST
Date: 28 Sep 17 - 09:40 AM

I think all posts go to a common database (possibly these days with replication in use??) and doubt Mr Red's OP is a reason.

More noticeable as a guest but can happen as a member is that a post can pass a preview but I'd guess gets snagged up in some (eg. anti spam) filter later in the chain.

Subject: RE: Tech: why posts go missing
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 28 Sep 17 - 09:13 AM

I assume I forgot to hit Submit.

Subject: RE: Tech: why posts go missing
From: Mo the caller
Date: 28 Sep 17 - 06:40 AM

I asked this some time ago and was told that it can be because you got to the thread you were trying to post to by using the Backspace instead of clicking 'home'.

But I'll copy this to be on the safe side.

Subject: Tech: why posts go missing
From: Mr Red
Date: 28 Sep 17 - 03:24 AM

My guess is the clue is in the multiplicity of the Mudcat servers.
hudie
sonny
etta
etc

occasionally I find posts don't stick, and watch for that, copying the text to clipboard in such conditions. BT (notso) HotSpots compound this.

I have found that you can use the back button but............

If your thread goes to the top, you may (I do) assume your post has taken. But........

what if two people post to the thread simultaneously? Given that there is a latency in "sending" - packets arrive asynchronously so the header packet may arrive after the text, and the same is happening to the other peoples' post (how many peeps?). But someone wins out, the thread is updated, and you think it is because of you. After all, the preview was perfect, wasn't it?

with three (or more) servers I can see yet more cobblication, and I have to say I wouldn't trust BT's CDN (Content Delivery Network) to be failsafe. Other CDNs are available!

What made me think of this was a non-post last night on a more (relative term) robust connection - still BT but not a HotSpot.

My recommendations:
1) Check it is your post, then just as back-up:-
2) keep a copy of your text
   a) on clipboard or
   b) in a text editor like notepad
3) Thank Max for 'Cat when things go smoothly (but keep yer options above).