Posts getting cut.

[SDMiller]

My forum has issues with posts being cut off. I did a search here, and most such complaints involve special characters... but that is not the case in my forum.

A post will preview perfectly well, but once submitted, it gets cut somewhere.

Attempts to modify the same post also preview fine... but cut in the exact same spot.

A post can be made longer with a bunch of extra text... and that will extend where the post will get cut... so users have started ending their posts with a bunch of junk just to make the cut happen after the useful text... which I go back and clean out.

It doesn't happen with every post... but the posts that it does effect it will consistently effect that particular post with any attempts at modification.

This has occurred at least since before the 2.0.7 update, since I made that update hoping to correct the issue.


Any help?

mahjong.us.com

SMF 2.0.7


SMF 2.0.1 Update    1.0     [ List Files ] [ Delete ]
2.   SMF 2.0.2 Update    1.0     [ List Files ] [ Delete ]
3.   SMF 2.0.3 Update    1.0     [ List Files ] [ Delete ]
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9.   Ohara YouTube Embed    1.0     [ Uninstall ] [ List Files ] [ Delete ]
10.   SMF 2.0.4 Update    1.0     [ List Files ] [ Delete ]
11.   Peoplesign    1.6     [ Uninstall ] [ List Files ] [ Delete ]
12.   Add IP2Location to Track IP    1.3     [ Uninstall ] [ List Files ] [ Delete ]
13.   SMF 2.0.5 Update    1.0     [ List Files ] [ Delete ]
14.   SMF 1.1.19 / 2.0.6 Update    1.0     [ List Files ] [ Delete ]
15.   SMF 2.0.7 Update    1.0     [ Uninstall ] [ List Files ] [ Delete ]
16.   More Spiders    1.2 


Here is the most recently affected post. This post was apparently meant to be about twice as much text... but gets cut off mid-sentence after the word "four".  http://mahjong.us.com/forum/index.php/topic,140.msg212.html#msg212

Thanks

[Xarcell]

Is it a large post or a short post? If it's a large post, then about how many characters?

[kat]

Out of curiosity, is there anything weird in your error log?

[Arantor]

http://wiki.simplemachines.org/smf/Why_do_I_have_partially_blank_or_missing_text_in_posts

[SDMiller]

@Xarcell The example post that got cut is 398 characters. I don't know how long the post was supposed to be, but the poster says it got cut about in half.
Edit to add: forum settings for maximum allowable post size is "0", which should be no limit.

@k@, nothing in the error log related (two entries dated days ago, both about password errors from users trying to log in).

@ Arantor, as previously stated, no unusal characters are involved. The example post got cut in mid sentence between the word "fours" and the rest of the post, using plain keyboard accessible English language Roman letters.

[Arantor]

So what exactly followed the word fours? Was it a hyphen, for example, or a ' symbol, especially if copied from Word?

Just because you may have typed it with plain keyboard accessible English language Roman letters does not necessarily mean this is what was actually *sent* anywhere.

Of course, since you're using Japanese characters, converting to UTF-8 should be done regardless, and I suspect it will fix your problem, but eh, I don't usually know anything.

[SDMiller]

Ok, at least one reproducible instance is the apostrophe. Testing various characters... if the forum runs into a pasted apostrophe it cuts the post there. Strangely not in preview though, just when it posts.

I've personally typed messages from my keyboard that got cut in the past too, though, so there must be at least one other factor that a keyboard (an auto-correct feature on my computer perhaps) that can insert something that causes a cut as well.

But at least I've narrowed one reproducible instance down to pasted apostrophes.

I will update to the UTF-8 and see if that fixes it. I'll back-up first, so probably not today.

Thanks!

[Arantor]

Would be interesting to know if this still happens on newly-added posts after the UTF-8 conversion has taken place. While it cannot magically fix pre-existing posts, new posts should not be affected. (It is hoped this will solve it, seeing how SMF 2.1 forces all new installs to be UTF-8 only)

[SDMiller]

Would be interesting to know if this still happens on newly-added posts

Another reproducible instance is if you start a post... walk away, come back later and finish... it posts only part of the original post (even if preview works fine). In this instance, you can't "fix" the post either, having to delete it and repost to get the ability to add more to it.

Sometimes my posts are technical, and I let the post sit while I look stuff up etc... so it's not uncommon for me to take a half hour or more to compose a post.

[SDMiller]

Ok! I think I discovered the MAIN reason posts get cut, because I observed it first hand this time, instead of users reporting it to me.

If you type three periods in a row ...  and don't pay attention... (ha, see what I just did there), the computer takes those three periods and replaces them with a single character which is three little dots... If you can read this part and it's not cut, then your forum is using utf8 or what have you.

Anywho, that three-dot character causes the post to get cut at that point, unless the forum is utf8 enabled.

I would say its pretty common for users to type three periods in a row to indicate thinking... you know.