Some bugs I've noticed in this forum

ramollari

The layout of this forum is really nice with quite a lot of options. But during the time I've used it I have noticed these bugs:
- Some posts one writes can be lost when the "submit" button is pressed and an "invalid link" message follows.
- The post count is not incremented with some posts.
- Some members have post counts of 0 although they have posted.
- The formatting features while writing a post are disabled for no reason.
- The checked "Do not use avatar" button.
- For certain periods I cannot use the forum because of 'database problems'.

I think it is helpful to report any bugs that are found by other users.

dextercioby

Advice (maybe someone would come up with a better one).Save the page ,if the message you want to post is really valuable.I've done it several times with messages i really cared whether they would get lost on the way,or not...The 'back' button usually works and then 'save' the text of the message by copy-pasting it to another document (text document) on your HDD and then try to repost it later again with copy-paste,when the net connection becomes available again.

In the General Discussion forum,posts are only counted as a whole,not for individual members...

They have posted only in GD...

Forum policy...

Forum policy...

True...Greg or Warren might tell us why.Thankfully,the data is not lost...


Daniel.

ramollari

No, the back button doesn't work.

Sometimes I can use the formatting features, sometimes I cannot. Is this a forum policy?

The checked "do not use avatar" makes the non-premium members think that they can actually use an avatar.

dextercioby

The 'back' button works fine with me...Anyway,to avoid any unpleasant events,save the message before clicking on "submit" button.

Some forums have formatting features working,some don't.I've noticed that as well...I don't use it,BTW...

As for avatar,it that really important...?

Daniel.

DaveC426913

It's frustrating, but I've found a pretty easy way around it. I do this on all boards now.

I've learned to automatically hit Ctrl-A Ctrl-C before hitting the Send button. You don't need to bother saving the message, since there's only a problem if there's a problem, so to speak. If it goes wrong, I've got the whole thing in the clipboard, ready to paste and send again.

Gokul43201

I do the same. Even though I haven't had this problem lately.

Greg Bernhardt

Sounds like a few of these are browser issues. As for database errors, that happens maybe once every few months due to mysql crashing for several reasons.

Moonbear

I think this is more of a browser/connection issue. Though, it also follows one of Murphy's Laws regarding internet use in general. The more time you've spend composing a post and the more important it is, the more likely it is to disappear when you hit the send button.

If you haven't set your options to have your computer remember your log-in information, you might also be timing out while typing. I've always been able to hit the back button to recover my posts (much better than other forums I've been on where that does not work), but maybe that's dependent on your browser settings. As others have said, just copy the post to your clipboard before sending it so you don't lose it if it doesn't show up.

Some formatting features are disabled across the board. What is and isn't enabled is up to the admins, and isn't a bug. One thing that does differ across the forums here is the ability to use img tags. Those are enabled in General Discussion, but not elsewhere. Elsewhere in the forum, you can still post a link to whatever you want to show without making it difficult for those of us with dial-up modems to load pages.

The option to use avatars is a contributor perk. If you are viewing the site for free, you don't get all the bells and whistles (you still get all the important content).

Greg already answered, but geez, surely there is no server on the planet that can run without ever needing some downtime for maintenance or needing something reset, etc. My experience has been that this site is amazingly reliable compared to a lot of others out there, and downtime when there are problems is very short (I think only once since I've been here have I seen a downtime longer than 10 min, and for that, Greg posted a notice of explanation that he needed to do a massive cleanup).

Tom Mattson

It depends on how long you take to compose your post, but I don't think that's a bug. In fact I think it's a security measure to protect your account. You are automatically logged off after something like 900 seconds of inactivity. That's just in case you walk away from your computer without logging off, and some joker posts something objectionable under your name.

You already got a couple of tips for avoiding lost posts.

Here's mine: Type it on a word processor. Then when you are ready to submit just cut, paste, and send. That's what I do with the long ones.