Opinion/Recommendation: Autosave of drafts on the forum

[EarnOnVictor]

Hi guys!

This has been on my mind for a while now, though I'm not a coder yet I've seen it on many forums and websites and it had availed my work from being lost many times in the past. If possible on BTT, I believe it's time that we have the 'autosave draft function' on the forum. I'm somewhat aware of what this could take but a unique forum like this is long overdue for it.

I don't know about you, but I've lost many of my drafted posts/topics due to my multitask attitude, system/browser malfunction, personal error and other reasons, which could be painful.

A simple function that could save our drafts as we type (provided the browser is connected to the internet) will go a long way.

Thanks!

#Edit: For those who doubt if it's possible, see an example that I just deliberately did on a forum below:

[KingsDen]

A whole new idea could easily be implemented by theymos, but re-implementing what is already in use might not be accepted.
While multitasking, before I'll leave bitcointalk tab, I'll simply preview and that automatically saves my work as draft and it will be there for days.
I have never lost any work due to this.

[tranthidung]

If possible on BTT, I believe it's time that we have the 'autosave draft function' on the forum.

It has a draft page which has some limitations but you just did not know about it.

• Drafts
• Draft page - Pros & Cons

It only works if you either click on Post or Preview button but it has limitation to last 100 posts/ previews and will be available for 7 days.

Personally I would like to open Notepad, Microsoft Word to copy and paste my content before click on Post or Preview.

If you use Tor, Click on New Tor Circuit for this site, you won't lose the content but it's best to save it in your own draft first.

[elevates]

If possible on BTT, I believe it's time that we have the 'autosave draft function' on the forum.

It has a draft page which has some limitations but you just did not know about it.

• Drafts
• Draft page - Pros & Cons

It only works if you either click on Post or Preview button but it has limitation to last 100 posts/ previews and will be available for 7 days.

Personally I would like to open Notepad, Microsoft Word to copy and paste my content before click on Post or Preview.

If you use Tor, Click on New Tor Circuit for this site, you won't lose the content but it's best to save it in your own draft first.

I was not aware of this feature. Thanks for sharing it as it will be of great help. Otherwise everytime you have click on preview to save a draft. Which was kind of hassle in the beginning but slowly it becomes a habit.

[Rikafip]

It has a draft page which has some limitations but you just did not know about it.

EarnOnVictor was asking specifically about "autosave draft option" (something like google doc has I guess) and current draft option doesn't work automatically (you have to click on it) so I am not sure how that would help him. On top of that, it tends to bug out and not work at all, so its hard to rely on it when creating longer texts.


@OP I woulnd't mind having option like that at all (I have to say that i haven't noticed it on any other forum), I seriously doubt we will ever see something like that. Even on that new forum that's been in developmen for God knows how many years.

[tranthidung]

I was not aware of this feature. Thanks for sharing it as it will be of great help. Otherwise everytime you have click on preview to save a draft. Which was kind of hassle in the beginning but slowly it becomes a habit.

You will know about more hidden pages/features of forum if you bookmark my topic so let's go.  

• Hidden pages/ features on the forum
• I am sure you will have interesting exploration with it but initially, you would have found it if you had searched well enough.
  
  • [Guide] Searching effectively

@EarnOnVictor was asking specifically about "autosave draft option" (something like google doc has I guess) and current draft option doesn't work automatically (you have to click on it) so I am not sure how that would help him. On top of that, it tends to bug out and not work at all, so its hard to rely on it when creating longer texts.

In Microsoft Word, there is an autosave feature but there is time in between. You can set it up big or small period but it won't auto save in miliseconds or seconds (?). Forum is not like a platform for real-time content composing and interacting with others like Google, we must hit Post to release our post so I won't think it will be available for this SMF forum or Epochtalk.

The auto save feature is bad too if we are composing contents (which will be auto saved) but we change our minds, don't release it. Unfortunately, with auto save, it will be scraped by the forum, that is just bad.

[elevates]

You will know about more hidden pages/features of forum if you bookmark my topic so let's go.  

• Hidden pages/ features on the forum
• I am sure you will have interesting exploration with it but initially, you would have found it if you had searched well enough.
  
  • [Guide] Searching effectively

Yes, you are right! I need to work on search. Everyday I am learning new things here from the best. Done with the bookmark. Time to explore your topic. 

[Helena Yu]

I did few times forgot to click preview in order to save my post, but it's not really a big deal since I still remember what was I said before.

If you want to create a long thread, make sure you're create it on notepad or word to prevent this one.

I think there's should be an adds that can solve this problem, but as we know many members are very skeptic against closed source or not trusted adds on.

So for now, I don't expect theymos will add such like autosave of drafts.

[Cryptomiles1]

Most times it depends on the browser you are using, I have several lost my post with Microsoft edge browser trying to submit my post, so previewing is good but whenever your not being careful all work are gone, since I downloaded chrome browser I barely noticed it again, although I feels more convenient using Edge browser.
You know is very painful after putting series of words and it happens just common network connection would make you lose the whole words without remembering to hit the preview button before posting, most at times it doesn't flash to me to preview first before posting.

[EarnOnVictor]

While multitasking, before I'll leave bitcointalk tab, I'll simply preview and that automatically saves my work as draft and it will be there for days.

What if you lose the draft before you have the chance to preview it?

If possible on BTT, I believe it's time that we have the 'autosave draft function' on the forum.

It has a draft page which has some limitations but you just did not know about it.

• Drafts
• Draft page - Pros & Cons

It only works if you either click on Post or Preview button but it has limitation to last 100 posts/ previews and will be available for 7 days.

Personally I would like to open Notepad, Microsoft Word to copy and paste my content before click on Post or Preview.

If you use Tor, Click on New Tor Circuit for this site, you won't lose the content but it's best to save it in your own draft first.

Thank you for this exposition and advice, they are helpful. Still not perfect though as per the limitations. Also, I don't like external apps while working on BTT, and neither do I use Tor which is still a setback. I hope @theymos can still consider this in the near future.

@OP I woulnd't mind having option like that at all (I have to say that i haven't noticed it on any other forum), I seriously doubt we will ever see something like that. Even on that new forum that's been in developmen for God knows how many years.

Like seriously??? No one knows it all. Have you tried https://investsocial.com/? To make it easy for you, I just deliberately did one on the site:

Most times it depends on the browser you are using

This has nothing to do with the browser, it's the internal program of the forum, and when the forum is programmed to work that way, all browsers would be able to save the drafts as you type.

[Asiska02]

I don't know about you, but I've lost many of my drafted posts/topics due to my multitask attitude, system/browser malfunction, personal error and other reasons, which could be painful.

I have had the same experience of losing a reply I have written to be posted because of browser malfunction. Sometimes you can never get it written out again exactly as the first time as the brain tends to skip some words when recalling to write again. Having an auto save draft option will be of great help and would limit loss of posts due to any malfunctions that can tender that.

I haven’t had an experience like this when creating topics, since I write them down on phone notebook before bringing it to the forum to post. This is where I then preview and do necessary changes to the post to make it look exactly as I want it to appear in the forum.

• Drafts
• Draft page - Pros & Cons

It only works if you either click on Post or Preview button but it has limitation to last 100 posts/ previews and will be available for 7 days.

So drafts works like this too? I always thought only previewed post before posting can only be found on the draft and not the ones posted without previewing first. The period validity of posts and number of posts the draft can take is okay. But what OP wanted was an auto save as you’re typing in a reply post or topic, this won’t solve the problem unless the user is used to clicking on preview often as he/she types.

[SFR10]

I seriously doubt we will ever see something like that. Even on that new forum that's been in developmen for God knows how many years.

It's worth noting that Epochtalk already comes with an autosave feature for drafts and it works flawlessly... You can try it on "Coinbistro ^{[it doesn't have a dedicated draft page so when you try to post something, you'll be greeted with a pop-up notification that asks if you want to load the draft]}".
@EarnOnVictor
- I think our best bet would be to hope for someone like @PowerGlove to release an SMF patch that @theymos approves.

[LoyceV]

What if you lose the draft before you have the chance to preview it?

I don't expect this autosave to be implemented any time soon, so: click Preview more often Most of the time, after clicking Preview, even a browser restart doesn't remove the content. In case I keep the draft for a long time (sometimes months), I save the text locally. Once in a while I mess up one of my tabs and lose a draft, but if it's anything substantial, I make sure I used Preview so I can use the draft feature.

[Rikafip]

Have you tried https://investsocial.com/? To make it easy for you, I just deliberately did one on the site:

Cheers bud, I guess you learn something new every day;). Forums I've been active on are usually very old so maybe that's why I haven't seen something like that before.

It's worth noting that Epochtalk already comes with an autosave feature for drafts and it works flawlessly... You can try it on "Coinbistro ^{[it doesn't have a dedicated draft page so when you try to post something, you'll be greeted with a pop-up notification that asks if you want to load the draft]}".

You mean it constantly and automatically saves text as we are writing it? Sounds good, but waiting for Epochtalk is like waiting for Godot.  


After getting screwed big time several times by draft option not working properly, every time I am writing something bigger (e.g brief monthly overview of local boards activity) I save the post localy as I am writing it.

[Peanutswar]

We have the draft feature I guess we rarely see those but before posting there's a button or hyperlink that will redirect you to the draft features that will store only for 7 days.

Code:

<span class="smalltext"><br>Click preview to save a <a href="/index.php?action=drafts">draft</a>.</span>

Well I rarely used this in some cases because every time I accidentally close the tab I used the feature of CTRL+SHIFT+T for redo the close tabs.

[Findingnemo]

I felt a lot because sometimes while replying via smartphone we click the refresh button when swiping down which will end as refresh page and everything you wrote on that will disappear and draft will not be working when this happens so the only choice is the forum needs to keep savings every word we write whether we click preview or post but it seems it's too much to ask and I don't think it will be under the to-do list of theymos. 

[Cryptomiles1]

I felt a lot because sometimes while replying via smartphone we click the refresh button when swiping down which will end as refresh page and everything you wrote on that will disappear and draft will not be working when this happens so the only choice is the forum needs to keep savings every word we write whether we click preview or post but it seems it's too much to ask and I don't think it will be under the to-do list of theymos. 

I believe too well that he may see this thread and read through everyone suggestions, if there's any need to implement that action then we don't have to get over worried about it besides we have been using it for years now no nothing to worry about.

Most times it depends on the browser you are using

This has nothing to do with the browser, it's the internal program of the forum, and when the forum is programmed to work that way, all browsers would be able to save the drafts as you type.

I think that has really helped me a lot but nevertheless we just hope everything get fixed soon it will also be of good advantage to most of us that usually uses smartphone.

[SFR10]

Most of the time, after ^[before] clicking Preview, even a browser restart doesn't remove the content.

You mean it constantly and automatically saves text as we are writing it? Sounds good, but waiting for Epochtalk is like waiting for Godot.  

Yes, the autosave feature of Epochtalk works in 10-second intervals... I agree with the latter part and I don't want to get your hopes up, but recently, there's been some activities in a few of its "repositories".

[LoyceV]

Most of the time, after ^[before] clicking Preview, even a browser restart doesn't remove the content.

I tested it, and it works indeed. Usually, I don't take the risk, so I Preview to save as draft before restarting my browser.

[sokani]

In the course of writing, my network might disconnect and reconnect causing my browser to reload, thus causing me to lose my typed text or message. What I normally do when writing lengthy message, is to first write it down on a notepad and copy and paste it on the text editor and preview it. By so doing, I would have a copy of the message on my notepad and a draft incase anything goes wrong.