Entry Saving Timeouts

Happy Monday everyone (or should it be “everybody”, I never know),

Hope you all had a good weekend.

One thing I’ve received a lot of mail about lately is saving entries and having the system timeout. We’ve all seen the timeout screen – where OD tells you that your session has timed out and you need to login again.

This timeout is an essential part of OD security – I’d like to get rid of it as much as (no, more than) the rest of you. However, it’s one of the things that keeps other people from getting into our diaries. This timeout is set to sixty minutes, so that if your session is idle for more than an hour you are basically logged out automatically. (There are people who will now tell me that they have had this happen in less than an hour, but that is what the server is set to.)

In any case, the worst time to have this happen is when you are writing an entry. You type and type and type and before you know it you’ve been typing for sixty-one minutes and you hit Save – and you get the timeout screen. What is supposed to happen is that you put in your name and password, and then the entry proceeds to save after the system logs you back in.

However, there were some circumstances in which this would not happen, and the writer would instead see a blank screen (not very helpful) and the entry would not be saved (even less helpful – okay, downright infuriating).

The good news is that I’ve fixed this and it has been tested inside out. Now, no matter what, your entry should save after you log back in from a timeout. I’m hoping this will drastically reduce the expletives-level of my Inbox – the next natural step after losing an entry to the OD timeout has been to fire a friendly message to me. Honestly, I feel your pain – I’m sorry for entries that have been typed and lost because of this. Now it should be better.

Addendum: it won’t hurt to add that there are many other issues involved here, in addition to the OD timeout. If you connect through AOL and your AOL session expires, you will have a similar problem. You will also have trouble if you lose your internet connection while you are writing your entry. This is why many diarists find it useful to type their entries in Notepad or Word and then copy and paste them into the entry box here -or- after typing the entry here, copy it into the clipboard before hitting Save. That way, if something goes wrong, you still have a local copy of what you typed.

The DiaryMaster

Thank you, thank you, thank you!!! This has happened to me SO many times, since I normally end up writing my entries while at work and can only type from time to time…Happy Holidays and thanks for working so hard again during your weekend. Hope you had some time to relax.

OMG, THANK YOU!!! LOL 🙂

I’m curious….do people really get that verbal and THAT angry with you? M.

Thank you God!!! This was driving me to drink. 🙂

I’ve seen that in some people’s diaries.. they have size 9 font in the the text “arial”.. i would really like to have that font, but you need a perticular code. Do you happen to know the code, and if so, would you mind writing it back to me. Thanks so much. Just “note” it back in your diary, please. Thanks a bunch!

An alternative to the notepad or Word entry is to select Edit>Select all>Copy once the entry is done. Then if something happens and it doesn’t save, one need only paste it into Word or Notepad, or even into a blank entry screen again. I’ve found this to be a reasonable compromise to protect my entries, without forcing me to give up the WSWYG features of direct entry.

Hi and thanx for fixing this problem. I did notice once when my time ran out after Ihave saved my entry that my entry did come back up. I know that this will not only make us happy, but eeryone else happy to!

It’s just as easy for people to copy their entry before they save it and they will just have to paste it if it doesn’t save. Although I seem to forget everytime. Thank you for fixing the problem!!

Oohh! Christmas came early at OD! WEEEEeeeee! Thanks DM. Keep up the great work!

Thank you to upgrading my diary to where it should be! I appreciate it.

cool. thanks.

people are making diaries just to nominate themselves onto readers choice. please take a stand for diary integrity.

it doesn’t really work to type it into word and then paste, because it adds all these stupid html tags. i have to go and turn the editor off and put in my own tags for what i want. can you fix it. word will say i have 4000 characters and it comes up as over 7500. its aggravating

I always wondered why saving it to the clipboard befor hitting save was so difficult. *shrugs* But thanks anyways for fixing the issue. <3

is it possible to post “movies” as an entry. i would like to post a rankin and bass cartoon as an entry and would like to know if its possible.

Greetings. When do you expect the delete diary function to be back online? I’d like to delete the diary I’m currently logged in on, but the function has been down for several weeks. Thanks for your support.

Well, I think you’re doing a great job. Keep up the good work. I have to help keep my offices webpage updated according to my bosses wants so I know it takes to keep everything going smoothly. You’re doing great.

Hello, I just recently signed on to your public diary, the only problem is the top menu doesn’t work. Well I should say it never works, it works time to time when it wants to why and how can I fix it.

people are making fake diaries to nominate themselves for readers choice.

I can’t find your email address, so I hope you will find this note. When I am at OD+ and want to edit an entry, it won’t let me and sends me to the “cannot be shown” page. What’s up with that?

Please restore the ability to delete these fvcking diaries. This is an essential function…and really, not allowing the work fvck unless you know HTML, give me a fvcking break.

cool, i wrote a limit entry a couple days ago same thing happened, oh well. 🙂

stupid question… how do you put music on an entry… without showing the code… im having serious problems with the entrys i want music on… thanks

Ok. I’ll start by leaving a note about this, although I’m sure you must receive dozens a day and most likely will not see this/be able to respond, for some time. However- I’m not quite sure which address to write to, regarding this- so this will have to do for now. I am currently a member of OD+. Unfortunately, I no longer feel comfortable utilizing my diary- I’m a private person,

and I feel that my diary is too well known for me to write in comfort. I realize there is the option to go to “favorites only”– however, I don’t wish to do so. There are many people I like to keep ‘track’ of, and be able to be in contact with, should I feel the need- and ‘favorites only’ would limit that freedom. What I would like to do, is have my current diary be reduced to a FOD,

and have the remaining subscription be put towards a new diary. Do you think this would be at all possible? I would be most grateful..I have been a member here for three years now, and I would very much like to continue my stay. If you are able to do so, please contact me either via note or e-mail: ariaweb2003@yahoo.com.

I will also continue my search for a more appropriate means of contacting you. Thanks so much, —

how do i report someone? cause. um. i dont know how. if im supposed to leave the diary name here, then its:troixdaddythanks.

Continuing that thought- My OD+ is desi.Today, I started a diary on FOD, entitled “.desi.”.Would it be possible for my current OD+ subscription to be transferred to this new, FOD diary?

I apologize if this is the wrong place for this note. Is there some way you could get Shadowdancer’s password sent to her, or reset to something known to her. When you requested everyone change passwords she changed, and promptly forgot, her password. I started her OD+ diary as a gift and paid thru paypal. Please let me know if there is anything I can do to get her back online.

Yeah, I write my entries on Word, then save and such. It seems like common sense since the internet is none too reliable. I’d think people would think about that before firing off an expletive filled note or such to you, because that’s ignorant. This site has helped through so much crap that in spite of (or because of) the probs, I keep coming back. Bugs add a human touch to the site. Kudos!

It timed out on me just now