[Resolved!] Post has vanished...

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iceport
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[Resolved!] Post has vanished...

Post by iceport »

Hi,

I spent a great deal of time composing and formatting some questions on Form 4797 in the "Personal Finance (Not Investing)" forum, and it was there accumulating some page views for an hour and a half or so. I just stopped back in to check on it, and the entire post has vanished. There's absolutely no trace of it left!

I really would like some help with this form. Why was my post deleted without a trace???

I really don't want to lose another hour trying to duplicate my questions. Even more importantly, without knowing why the post was deleted, I have no way of preventing it from happening again.

Help! Anyone?

Thanks!
Last edited by iceport on Sat May 22, 2021 6:53 pm, edited 1 time in total.
"Discipline matters more than allocation.” |—| "In finance, if you’re certain of anything, you’re out of your mind." ─William Bernstein
Marseille07
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Re: Help! Post has vanished...

Post by Marseille07 »

Sounds unlikely, but did it by any chance violate the forum rules in some way?
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iceport
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Re: Help! Post has vanished...

Post by iceport »

Marseille07 wrote: Sat May 22, 2021 4:48 pm Sounds unlikely, but did it by any chance violate the forum rules in some way?
Not a chance. I do have some experience with that kind of moderation, but this was as innocuous a post as they get!

I stuck some kind of very simple emoji symbols in the subject line, to make it easier for me to track the post, but that's the only thing I can think of that might be even remotely related to getting deleted.

Even then, after so much time was spent on the post, couldn't a moderator have simply edited the symbols out of the subject line, if they found them somehow offensive? And wouldn't there be some kind of notice provided to me?

I have no copy of what was posted.
"Discipline matters more than allocation.” |—| "In finance, if you’re certain of anything, you’re out of your mind." ─William Bernstein
Marseille07
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Re: Help! Post has vanished...

Post by Marseille07 »

iceport wrote: Sat May 22, 2021 4:56 pm
Marseille07 wrote: Sat May 22, 2021 4:48 pm Sounds unlikely, but did it by any chance violate the forum rules in some way?
Not a chance. I do have some experience with that kind of moderation, but this was as innocuous a post as they get!

I stuck some kind of very simple emoji symbols in the subject line, to make it easier for me to track the post, but that's the only thing I can think of that might be even remotely related to getting deleted.

Even then, after so much time was spent on the post, couldn't a moderator have simply edited the symbols out of the subject line, if they found them somehow offensive? And wouldn't there be some kind of notice provided to me?

I have no copy of what was posted.
If you need a copy, I'll share it with you. While admins probably don't know how long it took you to write the post, I can see it's devastating.

Let's hear from admins as to what happened. It might have been some glitch in the forum software.
Last edited by Marseille07 on Sat May 22, 2021 5:04 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Oicuryy
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Re: Help! Post has vanished...

Post by Oicuryy »

See if you can copy it from google's cache before it gets overlaid.
https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/ ... clnk&gl=us

Don't repost yet. PM a moderator.

Ron
Last edited by Oicuryy on Sat May 22, 2021 5:05 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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iceport
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Re: Help! Post has vanished...

Post by iceport »

Marseille07 wrote: Sat May 22, 2021 5:00 pm
If you need a copy, I'll share it with you.

Otherwise, let's hear from admins I guess.
Thank you, Marseille07. One of the mods is looking into it for me now.

The most baffling part of this — aside from the mystery of why it happened at all — is that I was offered absolutely no notice or explanation of the action taken.
"Discipline matters more than allocation.” |—| "In finance, if you’re certain of anything, you’re out of your mind." ─William Bernstein
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iceport
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Re: Help! Post has vanished...

Post by iceport »

Oicuryy wrote: Sat May 22, 2021 5:04 pm See if you can copy it from google's cache before it gets overlaid.
https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/ ... clnk&gl=us

Don't repost yet. Email a moderator.

Ron
Awesome!!! Thank you!
"Discipline matters more than allocation.” |—| "In finance, if you’re certain of anything, you’re out of your mind." ─William Bernstein
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cheese_breath
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Re: Help! Post has vanished...

Post by cheese_breath »

Are you sure you clicked Submit? Sometimes when I'm previewing a long post several times I'll forget to click the Submit button when I'm all done.

But I learned my lesson. Now I do the long ones in Word or Google Docs first and they copy it into my reply.
The surest way to know the future is when it becomes the past.
student
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Re: Help! Post has vanished...

Post by student »

iceport wrote: Sat May 22, 2021 5:05 pm
Oicuryy wrote: Sat May 22, 2021 5:04 pm See if you can copy it from google's cache before it gets overlaid.
https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/ ... clnk&gl=us

Don't repost yet. Email a moderator.

Ron
Awesome!!! Thank you!
It seems that you post has been restored.
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iceport
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Re: Help! Post has vanished...

Post by iceport »

cheese_breath wrote: Sat May 22, 2021 5:08 pm Are you sure you clicked Submit? Sometimes when I'm previewing a long post several times I'll forget to click the Submit button when I'm all done.

But I learned my lesson. Now I do the long ones in Word or Google Docs first and they copy it into my reply.
:thumbsup

I should have done that. But it really was posted, for quite a while, accumulating page views.

The mods have found it and replaced it now. (Apparently, a duplicate appeared and a mod deleted what was thought to be a duplicate. Except then there was no second copy left online.)

Thanks everyone!
Last edited by iceport on Sat May 22, 2021 5:14 pm, edited 1 time in total.
"Discipline matters more than allocation.” |—| "In finance, if you’re certain of anything, you’re out of your mind." ─William Bernstein
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cheese_breath
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Re: Help! Post has vanished...

Post by cheese_breath »

Is this the one you're looking for?
viewtopic.php?f=2&t=349494&p=6022851#p6022851
The surest way to know the future is when it becomes the past.
Marseille07
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Re: Help! Post has vanished...

Post by Marseille07 »

iceport wrote: Sat May 22, 2021 5:12 pm
cheese_breath wrote: Sat May 22, 2021 5:08 pm Are you sure you clicked Submit? Sometimes when I'm previewing a long post several times I'll forget to click the Submit button when I'm all done.

But I learned my lesson. Now I do the long ones in Word or Google Docs first and they copy it into my reply.
:thumbsup

I should have done that. But it really was posted, for quite a while, accumulating page views.

The mods have found it and replaced it now.

Thanks everyone!
Yeah, I mean it was cached on Google so definitely posted at one point.

Glad it's sorted out, though were they able to find out why it went missing?
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iceport
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Re: Help! Post has vanished...

Post by iceport »

Marseille07 wrote: Sat May 22, 2021 5:13 pm
Glad it's sorted out, though were they able to find out why it went missing?
Phantom duplicate post...

...wonder if the emoji caused a glitch?
"Discipline matters more than allocation.” |—| "In finance, if you’re certain of anything, you’re out of your mind." ─William Bernstein
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iceport
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Re: Help! Post has vanished...

Post by iceport »

cheese_breath wrote: Sat May 22, 2021 5:12 pm Is this the one you're looking for?
viewtopic.php?f=2&t=349494&p=6022851#p6022851
:thumbsup :thumbsup :thumbsup
"Discipline matters more than allocation.” |—| "In finance, if you’re certain of anything, you’re out of your mind." ─William Bernstein
student
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Re: Help! Post has vanished...

Post by student »

Marseille07 wrote: Sat May 22, 2021 5:13 pm
iceport wrote: Sat May 22, 2021 5:12 pm
cheese_breath wrote: Sat May 22, 2021 5:08 pm Are you sure you clicked Submit? Sometimes when I'm previewing a long post several times I'll forget to click the Submit button when I'm all done.

But I learned my lesson. Now I do the long ones in Word or Google Docs first and they copy it into my reply.
:thumbsup

I should have done that. But it really was posted, for quite a while, accumulating page views.

The mods have found it and replaced it now.

Thanks everyone!
Yeah, I mean it was cached on Google so definitely posted at one point.

Glad it's sorted out, though were they able to find out why it went missing?
Yes. The moderator posted a reply in the thread.
Marseille07
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Re: Help! Post has vanished...

Post by Marseille07 »

Awesome. Glad it was dealt with promptly.
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iceport
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Re: [Resolved!] Post has vanished...

Post by iceport »

Marseille07 wrote: Sat May 22, 2021 5:00 pm If you need a copy, I'll share it with you. While admins probably don't know how long it took you to write the post, I can see it's devastating.
Oicuryy wrote: Sat May 22, 2021 5:04 pm See if you can copy it from google's cache before it gets overlaid.
https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/ ... clnk&gl=us

Ron
Thanks again, folks. You also taught me where those cached links have been hiding in Google searches. :oops: Man, is that embarrassing.
"Discipline matters more than allocation.” |—| "In finance, if you’re certain of anything, you’re out of your mind." ─William Bernstein
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Re: [Resolved!] Post has vanished...

Post by LadyGeek »

I missed all the excitement.

This would be a good time to remind members to save long posts in a separate text file while you are working on it.

If you lose a post, here are other things to try:

- Hit the browser's back button. Your browser keeps copies in its own cache. If you can back-up to that page, immediately copy the content and paste it into a text editor.
- If you accidentally close the tab you were working on, your browser keeps tracks of closed tabs in its history. Open the browser's history (under "Library" in Firefox, "History" in Chrome) and open the tab. What you typed will still be there.
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iceport
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Re: [Resolved!] Post has vanished...

Post by iceport »

LadyGeek wrote: Sat May 22, 2021 8:43 pm I missed all the excitement.
Lucky you! :wink: 8-)
LadyGeek wrote: Sat May 22, 2021 8:43 pm If you lose a post, here are other things to try:

- Hit the browser's back button. Your browser keeps copies in its own cache. If you can back-up to that page, immediately copy the content and paste it into a text editor.
- If you accidentally close the tab you were working on, your browser keeps tracks of closed tabs in its history. Open the browser's history (under "Library" in Firefox, "History" in Chrome) and open the tab. What you typed will still be there.
That doesn't work for those of use who set their browsers to automatically clear the cache every time the browser is closed, and who then habitually close browser windows at every conceivable opportunity, just to clear the cache!

(Besides being paranoid, one very practical benefit of this is that I never hit my quota of "free page loads" on news sites that allow a limited number of page views before the paywall kicks in...)
"Discipline matters more than allocation.” |—| "In finance, if you’re certain of anything, you’re out of your mind." ─William Bernstein
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