How to recover a lost post

Posted by: wfaulk

How to recover a lost post - 14/10/2006 10:35

Sometimes the BBS will throw away a post if you take too long composing it. The safest thing to do is to always select and copy the text of your post before submitting it. That way you can just paste it back if you encounter the timeout.

That said, there may be relatively easy ways to recover if you fail to do that.

Read the following suggestions so you don't have to recreate posts from memory.

(Does someone know an easy way to do this from IE? If so, post it.)

Posted by: wfaulk

Firefox - 14/10/2006 10:43

When you get the page that tells you that the post time has been exceeded, do not go back to the previous page.

Click on the "Tools" menu and select "Live HTTP headers".

(You might want to do that now in order to make sure that you have this menu item. I believe that it comes with Firefox by default these days, but, if not, you might want to install the appropriate extension before you get in this situation.)

It will bring up a new window. Press reload in the browser window. It will warn you that you are about to repost data. Click OK. You will get the same timeout page, but the "Live HTTP headers" window will get populated.

Click the "Save All..." button on the "Live HTTP headers" window and save it with the filename "empegpost.txt". Then open that file from Explorer. It will open in Notepad. Within Notepad, you will find the text of your post, amongst some other stuff you can ignore. Select the text of your post and copy it.

Go back to your browser window and press the back button. The textarea where you wrote your post will, most likely, be empty. (If not, select it all and press the backspace key.) Then select the textarea and paste the text of your post copied from Notepad into it. Then click submit.

You should have recovered your post.

You can close the "Live HTTP headers" window and Notepad, and delete the "empegpost.txt" file once you've confirmed that your post has been accepted.

Posted by: Roger

Internet Explorer - 14/10/2006 11:11

If you suspect that you've taken too long over a post in Internet Explorer, you can keep it safe by stashing a copy on the clipboard, using the following method:

Press Ctrl+A (select all), and then press Ctrl+C (copy), your text will be placed safely on the clipboard. Then, if you need to re-enter your text, you can press Ctrl+V (paste) in the new text box.

Unfortunately, I don't know of a way in IE to replicate Bitt's other tip for Firefox.

Posted by: mlord

Re: Firefox - 14/10/2006 12:00

A very clever tip, Bitt!

Quote:
..
Click on the "Tools" menu and select "Live HTTP headers".
(You might want to do that now in order to make sure that you have this menu item. I believe that it comes with Firefox by default these days, but, if not, you might want to install the appropriate extension before you get in this situation.)

"Live HTTP headers" is a user-installed FireFox extension for version 1.xx of Firefox. This means it won't be there unless one has installed it (a very Good Idea -- do it now!).

Dunno about Firefox 2.0 (aka "Bon Echo", named after the same area 100 minutes from here where I hang out on hot summer days/weekends).

Cheers

Posted by: dr_dos

Re: Internet Explorer - 14/10/2006 12:51

Quote:
Press Ctrl+A (select all), and then press Ctrl+C (copy), your text will be placed safely on the clipboard. Then, if you need to re-enter your text, you can press Ctrl+V (paste) in the new text box.

That's not limited to IE, those shortcuts work anywhere on the Windows system.

Peter

Posted by: drakino

Re: How to recover a lost post - 15/10/2006 22:23

Unstickied, as this will only remain an issue for around 24 more hours.

Posted by: wfaulk

Re: How to recover a lost post - 16/10/2006 01:40

Knock on wood.

Posted by: canuckInOR

Re: Internet Explorer - 16/10/2006 17:39

Quote:
If you suspect that you've taken too long over a post

Me? I just always have "preview my post" turned on, and hit the Continue button every couple paragraphs to preview and edit. A stitch in time...

Posted by: Robotic

Re: Internet Explorer - 16/10/2006 18:04

Quote:
Quote:
If you suspect that you've taken too long over a post

Me? I just always have "preview my post" turned on, and hit the Continue button every couple paragraphs to preview and edit. A stitch in time...

The thing that's saving your post is the fact that you click 'continue' so often. Just having 'preview' on doesn't save you from losing a post. I know.

Posted by: drakino

Re: How to recover a lost post - 16/10/2006 21:17

Quote:
Knock on wood.

Looks like plywood isn't real enough wood. Until I get the CSS mess sorted out on the new boards, the upgrade is going to be delayed.

Posted by: wfaulk

Re: Firefox - 28/10/2006 13:16

"Live HTTP Headers" isn't supported under Firefox 2.0. But there's a new extension that will do the same thing: Tamper Data.

Posted by: wfaulk

Universal (Windows) Method - 04/05/2007 17:18

Install Wireshark, nee Ethereal. Once it's installed, start a capture by selecting Capture->Interfaces. You should see your ethernet card named with its counters increasing. Click the "Prepare" button next to it. In the "Capture Filter" field, type "host empegbbs.com". Then click Start.

Press your browser's back button, press the forward button and confirm that you want to repost the data. Once the new denial page shows up, click "Stop". You'll see a bunch of data show up. Just click through them until you find the data that you intended to post. It may take some slight reediting, and it might be spread across multiple packets, but it'll all be there. You can right-click in the bottom panel and select Copy->All Information.

On other OSes, you can use similar methods with other network sniffers, like tcpdump and snoop.

Posted by: Roger

Re: Universal (Windows) Method - 04/05/2007 17:42

Quote:
and it might be spread across multiple packets

Right-click, "Follow TCP Stream" is your friend in these situations.

Posted by: wfaulk

Re: Universal (Windows) Method - 04/05/2007 17:59

Actually, it looks like Wireshark automatically combines packets for you these days, which I noticed after I posted, so it's probably a non-issue.

Posted by: wfaulk

Re: Firefox - 14/06/2007 12:00

I've noticed a lot of people losing posts lately. Please, everyone, go install Live HTTP Headers right now. And if you're using IE, stop. Download, install, and use Firefox, then install Live HTTP Headers.

Or, it looks like Fiddler 2 might provide similar features for IE. Can someone verify?

Posted by: wfaulk

Re: Firefox - 14/06/2007 12:50

Actually, I found a better one for IE: ieHTTPHeaders.

Install now. Then, when you lose a post, it's basically the same thing as with Firefox and LiveHTTPHeaders, except you turn on ieHTTPHeaders with View->Explorer Bar->ieHTTPHeaders.

So, you get the "the BBS has eaten your post" message. Click back. Click View->Explorer Bar->ieHTTPHeaders. Click forward. IE will tell you that the page has expired. Click reload. IE will prompt you that it has to repost the data. Tell it to do that. Look in the ieHTTPHeaders window and find your text. It'll be in the first transaction. Select the text and click Ctrl-C to copy it. Click back again. Paste your text in the box, and click Submit again. Done and done.

Posted by: wfaulk

Re: How to recover a lost post - 14/06/2007 13:39

There is no reason for you not to install either ieHTTPHeaders for IE or LiveHTTPHeaders for Firefox right now. Do it. Do it. Do it. I know: you're never going to lose a post. Do it anyway. Do it. Do it now.

Posted by: Waterman981

Re: How to recover a lost post - 14/06/2007 13:48

Quote:
Do it. Do it. Do it. I know: you're never going to lose a post. Do it anyway. Do it. Do it now.

Reminds me of last nights Futurama rerun...

Fry: "Fix it! Fix it! Fix it! Fix it! Fix it! Fix it! Fix it!..... Fix it! Fix it!"

Posted by: matthew_k

Re: How to recover a lost post - 14/06/2007 15:57

Quote:
you're never going to lose a post.

Nope, I've lost plenty of posts. It's been installed. Now the race is on, will I lose another post or restart firefox first?

Matthew

Posted by: tanstaafl.

Re: How to recover a lost post - 14/06/2007 18:57

Quote:
There is no reason for you not to install either ieHTTPHeaders for IE or LiveHTTPHeaders for Firefox right now.

Except that the recovery process is so complex that it is easier to just re-type the post.

If I have a post that is more than a few lines long, I always go Ctrl-A, Ctrl-C before I click on the "Continue" button.

FWIW, I don't think the post monster eats them at random. The only ones I have ever lost were where I had the creation window open for an extended time -- say 15 minutes or more.

tanstaafl.

Posted by: tfabris

Re: How to recover a lost post - 14/06/2007 19:39

Yes, those are the exact situations in which the post gets lost. And yes, ctrl-A ctrl-C is your best and easiest defense against this. What Bitt is saying is, for those who forgot to do ctrl-A ctrl-C and lost their post, this is the fix procedure. In an emergency, after your text has suddenly disappeared, you can pop up this thread in another browser window and get your precious text back.

The fix procedure only works if you've already installed those plugins he mentioned when you make the mistake, though, so having the plugins already installed is a good idea.

Posted by: wfaulk

Re: How to recover a lost post - 14/06/2007 19:39

Quote:
I don't think the post monster eats them at random.

It does not. As you surmised, it's time based.

Quote:
The only ones I have ever lost were where I had the creation window open for an extended time -- say 15 minutes or more.

You mean like the ones you put an extra amount of effort into writing, possibly looking up sources, arguing with yourself about the right wording, making sure that your argument was correct? The exact ones that are the most difficult to recreate?

I'm talking with Tom to see if he can modify the timeout page so that it includes instructions , or, probably even better, a link to instructions, on how to recover, ONCE YOU HAVE THE EXTENSION INSTALLED!!! Install it! Once you install it, which doesn't take much time or effort, the recovery basically amounts to:

Click Back
Activate the plugin
Click forward
Find your text and copy it
Click back
Paste
Submit

That's it.

If you don't want to use it, that's fine. But don't encourage others not to.

Posted by: mlord

Re: How to recover a lost post - 14/06/2007 21:46

Quote:
Quote:
I don't think the post monster eats them at random.

It does not. As you surmised, it's time based.

Okay, so how's about one of the site admin folk going in and doubling the timeout, which is obviously too short right now ?

Thanks

Posted by: drakino

Re: How to recover a lost post - 15/06/2007 13:43

Quote:
Okay, so how's about one of the site admin folk going in and doubling the timeout, which is obviously too short right now ?

I've tried before, it's not tied to the PHP session timeout, and at a quick glance earlier I never found a place to change it.

The proper solution is to move to 7.x, and I am going to try this again in the next month when the server moves to a new location. There is likely to be some CSS uglyness but I'd prefer to just have the new boards up instead of holding out any longer.

Posted by: mlord

Re: How to recover a lost post - 15/06/2007 23:57

Thanks, Tom.

Nothing pressing, but it's just an issue that seems to come up often.
So if/when an opportunity to nip it does arise..

Thanks again!

Posted by: wfaulk

Re: How to recover a lost post - 08/12/2007 22:20

Hopefully this no longer needs to be sticky.