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Bug: Update answer loses update

This has happened to me on multiple occasions; the last being just now. It's fairly straight-forward; I'm in a question that I've already posted an answer to and I want to update my answer.

So I fill in the Add your answer field and click the Post my answer button. It takes me to the dialog and I select Update answer.

It then takes me to the Edit Answer page. For a moment my updated information appears, but then the screen flashes and it reverts to the original answer with no new data; the new text I spent so much time adding is just gone. Using the back button doesn't bring it back, so it's just gone and the time I took writing it is wasted. Here's the latest one it happened to.

Help with connecting wires - Kenmore Oven Model 970-678431 - iFixit

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I’ve had the issue a few times, I now only post an Answer to then convert it to a comment and then apply it as an update.


I’ve even lost the answer in process if I need to grab a URL in a new window. I now post and then edit in that case.


Even posting comments is a chore, before we had a good line break so paragraphs has some distance, now I have to post with a opening bracket br and closing bracket that I’ve done here otherwise it’s a mess!

Like here no space difference between the line above and this one Vs a continuation of a paragraph above (no difference in the line spacing)

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Hi

Noticed this problem for a while now, but assumed as it only happened at a certain time period, every time, then it was just a clash of time zones.

By this I mean it only ever occurs (to me anyway) when I'm on the forum between 1430-1730hrs WST i.e. GMT +8. This would put is at between 2230-0130 hours California time

Assuming that California is where the ifixit servers/storage are located, I've noticed that the "housekeeping" functions e.g. reputation badges, daily rep points totals reset etc are performed at approx the same time so was wondering if there was a standby server that handled the website whilst the other was updating so to speak. Maybe it's got the bug and not the main one in normal use. Lot of guessing on my part regarding this ;-)

I've also learnt now to copy my answer before trying to "update" it to an existing answer of mine, so as to not lose it when it doesn't update. Then I select "answer anyway, and then moderate it to a comment in the original answer and the moderate the comment to an update a post. Long winded workaround but it saves re writing an answer and posting more answers in lieu of updates

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@jayeff - Don’t you love the text blob as well, makes reading harder! Depending on the windows size there is no break between paragraphs!

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And of course to add to the randomness I just now did another update and it worked perfectly.

'Scuse me, I'll be back after I'm done banging my head on the desk...

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@danj

The only way I've found to make it slightly easier is to have shorter sentences that don't fill a line and then start a new line for the next sentence.

The way there's sort of a space created, making it easier to read.

All these workarounds to overcome problems that weren't there before makes you wonder if they've thought out the changes (updates?) or they're aren't being fully tested before implementation.

@dadibrokeit,

I've taken to copying an answer/comment every time before posting just in case. At least the copy is still available if it doesn't post successfully. Saves the forehead ;-)

Cheers

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@dadibrokeit , @danj , @jayeff , @oldturkey03 , Thanks for all the details!

I really appreciate y'all taking the time to document what’s happening and sharing your workarounds (which we're sorry you've had to do). I’m connecting with the Dev Team to see if we can get to the bottom of this and whether server maintenance or backup processes could be causing these issues. If that’s the case, I’ll find out if there’s anything we can do to mitigate the disruptions.

I’m also flagging the formatting concerns since I know the text blob issue makes things harder to read.

I’ll follow up once I have more info. In the meantime, if you notice any patterns or changes in behavior, feel free to drop them here—it’ll help us track things down.

UPDATE: We’re working on getting this fixed, and it would be really helpful if you could share the text of your second answer the next time it happens. That way, we can take a closer look at what’s going on.

Also, as a workaround, you can update an answer by hovering over or clicking Options in the top right of your existing answer and selecting Edit instead of posting a second answer. It’s not a fix, but it should help prevent losing your work in the meantime.

Let us know if you run into anything else.

UPDATE #2: We were able to fix the the Answers bug :) Please let me know if you run into any issues related to the fix. We're still working on the paragraph breaks.

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@krisrodriguez - There are two other annoyances. The image tool box won’t handle larger images many laptops and iPads now offer larger images just doing a screen grab it would be nice to enlarge the tool to accept these larger images. In addition it appears vids are also failing to post properly I’m suspecting it too is related to the tool box no able to handle the deeper pixel density iPhones or other video source.

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@dan, did this start happening after the fix? Or this something that was already happening before?

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@danj how large are those images? I have not yet encountered any issues with attaching images,documents etc.

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@oldturkey03 - The size exceeds the set limit, you get an error when you post “Image too large. Image width and height must not be 11000 pixels or less and the resolution must be 80 Megapixels or less” so I’m constantly editing my images cropping them down from my iPad Air M2. When I take a screenshot or some images which are still under 11000 pixels so,I’m not sure why unless the image is deeper than 80 Megapixels, but cropping doesn’t really alter that just the image dimensions. Then we have the vids! I’m sure that’s the 80 Megapixels issue as you do see the thumb print but the slider won’t budge! So the toolbox took the vid just won’t store it.

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@danj, can you share a few of the images that you were trying to upload? You can email them to community@ifixit.com. We're working on finding a fix now.

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@krisrodriguez - THANK YOU 🙏 Kris!

Looks like the image issue has been solved as I didn’t remember the exact image I tested. I sent in one to you which I had that’s 4k. Just tested it and it appears to work now! This is the error I had gotten before

Block Image

And the 4k image

Block Image

Hopefully the video issue is also addressed.

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@danj, thank you for the update! This is good news. Let's hope it was a one-time glitch. But if not, you can let me know and we can start looking into it again.

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Jerry Wheeler will be eternally grateful.