1. Evelyanin

    Evelyanin New Member

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    Frustration Thread

    Discussion in 'Revision and Editing' started by Evelyanin, Mar 25, 2010.

    I know how important reviewing is on this forum, and I try to review every once in a while. However, maybe some of you have experienced what I experience all the time.
    I am typing on my keyboard, reviewing a piece of work. When I reach an area where I want to put in a comment, I press the wonderful colour button and type in my thoughts on grammar, spelling, etc. I go through the whole poem/story like this and am almost done when suddenly, to my absolute horror, one of my fingers accidently presses an unidentifiable key (I still don't know which one) and I get moved back one page. I am now back on the original thread, and all my work is lost. I try to go back, but find that the only thing left is the quote. At this point, I really don't feel like doing the work all over again.
    I do sometimes copy the work that I have done, so that if something goes wrong, I don't have to start over. Of course, I don't always remember. Actually, most of the time I don't remember.
    If anyone else ever experiences this, please feel free to scream out your frustrations.
    If you know how to get the work back, please share this with the rest of us. Or maybe it's just me who keeps on messing things up...
     
  2. Wreybies

    Wreybies Thrice Retired Supporter Contributor

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    This has happened to me.

    My new computer is, for some reason, more forgiving when this happens and I can just jump back and the work I had done is still there, but since my old computer was unforgiving, I got into the habit of doing a copy paste (always with the express permission of the author) into a Word doc and doing the review there first. I would then just copy/past back into the thread in one transaction. It saved me grief.
     
  3. Cogito

    Cogito Former Mod, Retired Supporter Contributor

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    Probably you have hit the backspace key when the typing cursor is not in the edit window. As frustrating as this is, there really is not much you can do after it happens.

    You CAN prevent it though. If you are using Internet Explorer 6 or newer, you can hold down the CTRL key when you click the QUOTE button, or to enter the thread in the first place, and it will open the edit in a new tab of your browser. That tab has no previous page, so the BACKSPACE key can't bite you. Unfortunately, it's not the only way you can get kicked out of the page, so there is still no guarantee.

    You can also hit Go Advanced to preserve what you have to that point, followed by Preview Post as often as needed, to limit your potential loss.

    You could also use Word or Notepad to create your reply, as Wrey suggested, but you won't have access to the formatting tool buttons. Word formatting and BB formatting are not the same, and Word formatting is lost when you transfer back to the thread.
     
  4. Wreybies

    Wreybies Thrice Retired Supporter Contributor

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    A copy paste also has the benefit of allowing you to work away from the forum and also allow you to continue within the forum and gives you time to think about what you wish ti write.

    As Cog has mentioned, the formating for Word or other word processors is incompatible with the forum's tags, so I learned the different tags and enter them manually.

    [noparse]italics[/noparse]
    [noparse]
    [/noparse]
    [noparse]underline[/noparse]

    ...and the like. ;)
     
  5. Evelyanin

    Evelyanin New Member

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    I get to learn something new everyday. :p Perhaps now I will only get kicked out half the time. (I also realized that now I can go back to the other tab and look at the previous posts without having to worry about losing my work.)

    Thanks for all the advice. I'm not sure I'll be able to follow all of it. Once I get writing, I don't think of saving every once in a while.
    Wrey's idea sounds fantastic, with the only problem being the formating. The one thing I miss when reviewing here is the formating. Microsoft word is wonderful in that sense. You can see all the changes you make right away. On the forum all I see is "bracket color bracket line bracket." It's a pretty big mess. I'm never 100% sure what the result will be when I press "submit reply". Thank goodness for "edit". :D
     
  6. Gigi_GNR

    Gigi_GNR Guys, come on. WAFFLE-O. Contributor

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    This happens to me a lot. :mad: However, I can usually press forward and have my work still there. Maybe it's my computer or depends on how quickly you go back.
     
  7. Thanshin

    Thanshin Active Member

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    Alternatively, you can use the middle mouse button.
     
  8. Cogito

    Cogito Former Mod, Retired Supporter Contributor

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    If you even HAVE a middle mouse button, and haven't selected another function for it.
     
  9. Thanshin

    Thanshin Active Member

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    True that.

    The click of a middle button must be a koan to Mac users.
     
  10. Manav

    Manav New Member

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    I don't use Word or Notepad to do that.... I have made a habit to right click inside the message box-->select all-->right click again-->copy as my review progresses. Until you select and copy something else, it remains in the memory and you can paste it whenever and wherever you want. So, when something like what the original poster said happens, I just right click again and paste everything. The format and everything is retained. I find this to be the easiest way. You just have to be careful that you don't select and copy something else.
     
  11. Cogito

    Cogito Former Mod, Retired Supporter Contributor

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    Manav, see the original post. The problem is accidentally wiping out the page before you finish composing a complicated post.
     
  12. Manav

    Manav New Member

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    okay, so he will find the message box empty when he return back to the page he was working on. Now, if he did what I have said... right click and copy before the page was wiped out.... he can now right click and paste everything.
     
  13. Cogito

    Cogito Former Mod, Retired Supporter Contributor

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    You're missing the point. It isn't the copied text from the original story that gets lost. It's all the comments you made before you accidentally clicked or typed something that made the page go away.
     
  14. Manav

    Manav New Member

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    I am not talking about the original story text either. And who says comments cannot be copied now and paste it later?

    try it yourself now:

    write a comment in the message box below. Now, select what you have written(curser inside the message box, right click and select all) and then right click and copy it. Move away from the page to some other page without saving your comment. Return back to this page.....go to the message box below again (which should be blank now)... put the curser inside the message box, right click and selct paste.... your message will reappear.
     
  15. Lankin

    Lankin Member

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    I always do so ... every five minutes or so, when I am writing any post or email. Once in a while I forget, that's normally when I would have needed it :)
     
  16. Cogito

    Cogito Former Mod, Retired Supporter Contributor

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    Yes, you CAN do that. And you can compose your message on a separate app like notepad that is less prone to navigate away due to a stray keystroke or click.

    For my part, I NEED the cut/paste buffer while I'm working on the post, because I am copying and pasting excerpts from the text I am critiquing. I can't simultaneously preserve everything I have typed into the edit frame.

    The worst culprit for me is hitting backspace, thinking my cursor is right after the character I want to delete, wehn in fact the focus is outside the edit box completely. The browser skips back to the previous page, and I lose all my work. If I open the edit in a new browser window or tab, there IS no previous page, so I escape that particular fate.
     
  17. Aconite

    Aconite New Member

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    If you are using Firefox, Lazarus: Form Recovery will end absolutely all of these issues (without any effort on your part):

    It automatically saves whatever you were typing; all you do is go back, right-click, and 'recover text.' It's brilliant for any kind of web forum, but especially one like this, where you might write fairly lengthy replies. Obviously, only install this on your computer, not on a public one, or else people might get your data (though there is a way to encrypt if you're paranoid.)
     
  18. JessaNova

    JessaNova New Member

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    Hahaha! This happens to me too. Not as often as I'm thinking, but it's so aggrevating.
     

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