Hi All,

For the past month I have been having issues with "missing text" when posting a note on the forum. For me it mainly happens, when I type a note in Word or from an email, and they use copy/paste to create a message on the forum. When I do a Preview Post, my message is there, but when I actually Submit my message it ends up blank. Now if I go back and edit my message, and type directly into the forum it usually works.

For years I've used the copy/paste message to post on the forum (and other websites) and never had an issue until about a month ago. Doing this on other websites is not a problem even now. There are many reasons why I prefer to do a copy/paste especially when my note is long, so I find this issue extremely frustrating.

I'm using Windows7 and Internet Explorer V10.

I noticed a few others have had this problem. One person told me they were using their iPad and typed directly into the forum message box and when posted the message was blank. They tried a few times with the same results.

Another member and a friend of mine has been trying unsuccessfully to post a message today. She tried typing it in directly and also copy/past - nothing worked.

If you have experienced this issue, please let OCF know. You can post your comments here. The info that would be helpful would be what you are using (PC, MAC, iPad, etc.), what web browser (Safari, IE, etc.) and if you were using copy/paste or direct typing into the OCF posting box.

It is not just you that is having this problem!

Thanks!

It has happened to me as well. I typed a somewhat lengthy post, only to have it not show up. I then typed "this is a test" -- a very short post -- and it showed up fine, but when I tried replacing that with the post I really wanted to put up, it was blank again. Copy/paste of my original text (which I had saved in a Word file) also came up blank.

I finally got it to work by retyping the first paragraph, saving it, then typing the next paragraph and saving it, and so on until the post was complete. I was using the Chrome browser (v. 29.0.1547.62) on a MacBook Air -- also tried it from my iPad, with the same result (blank post).

Now we'll see if THIS post works! (Edited: It did!)

Often times if you are creating text in an alternate tool such as Word then when you copy/paste you are also grabbing all the hidden codes which may not play nicely with the forum text editor.

You will experience greater success creating notes in a simple editor such as Notepad then pasting that text into the forum text block. Give it a try on some small text block and see if it works for you. don

Thanks Don for that suggestion. I'll have to search for Notepad since I rarely use it.

I've used Copy/Paste with Word for years and have not had a problem posting to the forum until a month ago. I still do this with other internet sites and don't have an issue.

Since I've noticed a number of blank messages on the forum I know others are having issues, so I wanted to find out what other members where doing, and find a workaround until when(if) this issue is fixed.

Thanks!

I have also experienced this using my iPad and Safari. I have had posts copied from Notes and directly typed. In one case I saw the post in preview and it appeared on Submit but later disappeared. The common thread in all of mine is that they were long winded. I just figured I must have a new limit now.

I tried that, Don -- well, a variation of that. When I was having difficulties, I sent myself an email (Gmail) of my post in plain text and then copied/pasted from that. Still came up blank. Good thought, though, and makes sense.

Notepad Test:



Message created in Notepad.

** Used Copy/Paste to add message to forum **

Another Test:

This message was created in Word, then used Copy/Paste to add to Notepad, then used Copy/Paste to add to forum post.

Had to check back but first noticed this on the 28th of July as did a few others.
I was also using copy/paste from Word at the time.
Worked fine when I typed directly into Quick Reply
http://oralcancersupport.org/forums...;Main=15393&Number=168500#Post168500

OCF is aware of this issue. Our webmaster is looking into it.

The issue is with edits and when using copy/paste.

Typing a post directly onto the forum should eliminate the issue.

donfoo is right, text editors like word and others copy code that when copy and pasted are hidden. Some of the characters are not allowed to be submitted to the database. It is best to use textedit for the mac or notepad for windows when pasting into the reply field. We will continue to look into solutions that might eliminate the unicode problem. Thanks for sharing.

But why would it show up in the "Preview Reply" but disappear when submitted?

Susan it uses temporary storage to preview what it would look like for a visual reference. When you press submit it actually posts to the database. If there are foreign characters that you cant see then the post will fail because it never actually gets submitted.

Thanks! It really helps knowing this! For now, I will do use Notepad if needed for my long notes!

Another thing to try is to make sure you select "using HTML" in the Markup.

[img]http://oralcancersupport.org/error.jpg[/img]

The "Markup" section does not appear for me on this screen, so I cannot select "using HTML" as an option here.

So I checked both "Edit Profile" and "Edit Preferences" under My Stuff, and could not see an option to select HTML.

Under "Post Options" I have two listed: "HTML is disabled" and "UBBCode is enabled".

Also, I don't have the option to "Lock this topic", but I assume that is given to only those with special powers! Otherwise, what I see is the same as the screen shot above.

I checked this on my laptop (Windows7/IE) and iPad w/ Safari - the same on both.

My first try to post this message was using Word, copy/paste to Notepad, then copy/paste to OCF - didn't work.

I retyped in Notepad, then copy/paste to OCF - did work!

I first started using Word to type longer posts because Safari was quitting on me in the middle or near end of a post, but quit doing the Copy & Paste for problems already mentioned. So I am happy just using Word to type anything that might be longer than a few sentences and then re-typing directly on the OCF message area (instead of copy & paste). I type pretty fast so it doesn't take that long to do.

[quote]My first try to post this message was using Word, copy/paste to Notepad, then copy/paste to OCF - didn't work.[/quote]When text is copied from Word and pasted into Notepad, all the hidden code is removed BUT there are a few nasties that will get through the copy/paste and still remain in notepad even though they are invisible.

The only way to ensure 100% you have clean ABC text only is to start the text in Notepad and copy/paste into the forum text block.

I made many posts all day yesterday, saw them on the "Active Posts" link but today every single one of them is gone. Censored or wth??

On most posts yesterday I got the message the post was duplicated when I hit submit. I thought it odd bit went to the active posts and all were there. Surely it wasn't only me??

Not yesterday, but that happened to me a few times...post was already submitted, and then none ever posted.

Mine posted, viewed later in the day and then disappeared. I searched some old posts and it appears if you start a topic it may end up blank. The server time didn't update for standard time either so all my posts were an hour off.

There are some clear signs of a database/database integrity issue that seems like it started with the upgrade but I'm not sure. I hope there is a database repair tool. The forum history and search function is the power of the forum I think. Hard to believe how large the group has become and tougher to imagine the data being stored.

Thanks Paul.

Two thoughts on posting issues:
1) Maybe it's the change from Daylight Saving back to Standard. Always causes problems. Best not to fret yet.

2) Disappearing posts. Don't copy and paste. Maybe that will correct it. Or maybe not.

2.5) Previous solutions mentioned: make sure it says "usingUBBcode" under your message box. And go to "My Stuff", Edit Pref, Current Server Time and choose yours.
Whatever the problem, I have a feeling everything will be ok soon. The Tekkie Angels are working on it.

I havent censored any of your posts or anyone elses recently. With the new server upgrades there have been some issues with some posts that are done using copy/paste not appearing (or they will come up blank). This is the first Ive heard of posts that had been shown on the forum disappearing. I will pass this along to Chester. Thanks for letting us know.

I just noticed a couple posts I wrote earlier have disappeared???? Something isnt working properly.

Sorry Uptown and to anyone else who has experienced any recent problems with posting. Please keep me informed when this happens and I will pass it along to get corrected.

As far as the server updating...thats an easy fix you can take care of yourself. Go into the My Stuff section and on the drop down menu click on Edit Preferences. Scroll down and change the time to add another hour to whatever you have set up with + or - in the time section.

The missing text in posts is due to the new server upgrade incompatibility with "ghost" text when doing copy/paste. It will pick up unseen text that is hiding behind what you copy. Plus when posting you should have it post as HTML instead of UBBCode.

Sorry for anyone being inconvenienced in any way.

The missing text issue not only impacts new posts made via copy/paste, it has also deleted the text in posts made years ago. I notified Brian and Chester of this a few weeks ago.

Also, I do not have the option when posting a new message to select the HTML option - only option I see is "using UBBCode".

I have exactly the same issues as Susan. Some past posts going back over the years have had the text deleted. I used to use copy and past a lot.
Also only have the 1 option of UBBCode
Gabriele

This is an issue of how old the board software is. The manufacturer is working on an update. When OCF added and upgraded our servers to new hardware/software that is the fastest and best out there, these UBB boards software was incompatible with some of the new server drivers and more. (the single quotation mark / contraction appostorphe causing posts not to appear for example) The UBB people are aware that this is happening to them all over the web not just to us. They have not invested in upgrading their software in years and are paying catch up now. All these issues are because OCF has to be running the best, fastest and most contemporary servers in today's environment. The board software is being upgraded by the manufacturer and they should have a new version soon. This is not OCF editing or deleting your messages.

That being said, we alway "prune the boards" although we have been negligent about it lately as there never seems enough time to do every thing at OCF with the small staff we have. Old messages that are "just hope you get well" kind of things from many years ago, posts that have outdated scientific information in them, those are targets for pruning permanently. There are a quarter of a million posts here that are searchable. If those searches are going to happen quickly and the boards are going to give you pages quickly , the volume of the old posts has to be pruned down with regularity. This is something we have done for years.

I am a little confused. I am hearing don't use UBB and do use it. I can't change from it.

I can't imagine the labor required to maintain the database, literally one record at a time.

Thanks.

The problem can be duplicated by using an iPad and selecting an emoticon from the "Post" section. It does the same in messaging. It does not do this with a PC. That seems to be zeroing in in some hidden/control characters from the iPad keyboard mapping. All cases have been direct entry, no copy and paste.

Hope this helps.

The software developer is aware of this issue and is working on it. Special characters will trigger this for sure.

A couple new discoveries. You can put something like 3-4 with a dash.

You cannot use Spanish enye such as in their word for mister or the green peppers or the little thingy above an "N".

Tested.