# Private Message Bug



## Goldwasser (Jul 2, 2011)

I just wanted to bring to the forum members attention about a bug in the private message system here. I had received an email from a member who was questioning why I did not respond to his quote request. I replied back that I thought for sure I did answer his question. In doing so, when I clicked the Send button, the system prompted me to answer the anti-bot question about if i am interested in refining. I answered it with a yes, and clicked the send button again, as I always do.

But this time, I noticed somthing. The next screen after I confirmed that I was not a bot had a comment in it that said "No recipient defined". I never saw that before, but I will admit I dont think I ever looked. So I hit the back button a few times to get back to my email composition screen, hit the send button again, and this time it did not ask me the anti-bot challnge (it appears to ask only once per session) however it DID successfully send the message according to the confirmation screen that now reads somthing to the effect of "Message sent".

I checked my Outgoing box and sure enough only 1 message had been sent. It makes me wonder if this is what happened to the email I sent to the forum member, and secondly, how many other times did the message fail to send? 

So, if you wrote me and I failed to write back, it may be that I did reply but it was never delivered.


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## dtectr (Jul 2, 2011)

I've had some difficulties, at times, since I'm using Opera, I guess. Keeping it updated & turning off completely periodically has helped, too. 
I recently switched my board style, based on a thread here, to subsilver2. The difference is amazing.


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## Goldwasser (Jul 2, 2011)

Thanks for the tip, I did not realize you could change the board style. Much better is the subsilver2 than the default. More convenient to navagate.


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## glondor (Jul 2, 2011)

Save your message by copy paste then refresh your page, then send. If your message vanishes after refresh just paste it in and send.


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## Anonymous (Jul 2, 2011)

I had a similar issue the other day,where ever PM I sent I had to answer that question.But I never have had to answer it before.


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## gold4mike (Jul 2, 2011)

I have the same problem, but only once in a great while. I've found that if I simply click the "Back" button on my browser to get back to the screen where my message was typed, I can click send again and it will go through the second time.

I'm not asked to type "Noxx" on the second attempt and have often wondered it the glitch might have something to do with the bot protection.


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## Crosswire3 (Jul 3, 2011)

I have fallen victim to that more than once but have written it off as my own lack of attention. At least now I know I'm not the only one.


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## goldsilverpro (Jul 3, 2011)

I joined a month after the forum started and have never had any of the problems that other people have had, not once that I can remember. As most of you know, I am quite active, so one would think that, if it's a forum problem, I would experience them also - it never ever happens (knock on wood!). Over this time, I have used W2000, XP, and W7, 64 bit on 3 different computers. I always use Firefox and it is usually kept up to date. I have always used the subsilver2 board style (found on User Control Panel/Board Preferences/My Board Style/subsilver2/Submit). I have briefly tried the other board styles but have found them to be terrible in comparison, including the default one. I have done nothing, consciously, to prevent having problems. Everything just seems to always work as it should, when it should. I do often think that my use of subsilver2 is a big part of the key to my success when using this forum.

Thinking back, I do remember problems when we tried the built-in Chat room. However, those problems were universal and everybody had them. The other problems, PMs, anti-bot questions, etc., must be individual problems if I never have them. There just has to be something that people with these problems are doing differently - different OS, different browser, different board style, some box checked or not checked, something in the Profile, some installed app - whatever. Something that is interfering. ???


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## Anonymous (Jul 3, 2011)

goldsilverpro said:


> I joined a month after the forum started and have never had any of the problems that other people have had, not once that I can remember. As most of you know, I am quite active, so one would think that, if it's a forum problem, I would experience them also


Same here Chris,and I too never experienced a problem before the one I mentioned above.......but that being said,it was only for that one day,and I've not experienced it since.


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## Fournines (Jul 3, 2011)

I have had that issue from time to time. It is usually resolved by going back to your message after you "answer the question", and click the "submit" button again. I'm using Safari on OSX 10.6.7

I have always had my board on "Ca Gen2", but I'm going to change it to to subsilver and see if that makes this issue disappear.


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## goldsilverpro (Jul 3, 2011)

> I have always had my board on "Ca Gen2", but I'm going to change it to to subsilver and see if that makes this issue disappear.


Please let us know if it does.

The only disadvantage of subsilver2 is that it's not as "pretty" or as "modern" as the others. It's more basic looking. Advantages are that, unlike the others, everything you'll ever need is linked at the top of every page. Also, with the others, if I remember right, the search at the top is just basic keyword search. With subsilver2, when you click on search at the top of the page, you are automatically in Advanced search. When I search, I usually remember (or can guess) who authored what I am looking for, so I often search for both the keywords and the author. Big advantage! This can only be done in Advanced search, which is a helluva lot easier to get to in subsilver2.


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## Goldwasser (Jul 14, 2011)

UPDATE:

Changing to subsilver2 did not fix the private message bug, still persists.

On a positive note, I do like subsilver2 better!


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## Oz (Jul 14, 2011)

Goldwasser said:


> UPDATE:
> Changing to subsilver2 did not fix the private message bug, still persists.


You will get the test questions every time you change your IP address. You have close to a dozen of them.


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## Goldwasser (Jul 16, 2011)

Although the test question is slightly annoying, and you are correct it appears likely based on a comparison of the previous and current IP address. Fortunately the bug only manifests itself when the test is taken. I have come to expect it and respond accordingly with two clicks of the back button and resend.


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