Quote button doesn't work for some posts, OK for others

[ConstantOgler]

Trying to start a post with a quote in the EU Referendum disc, I found the quote button not working. Another post by same member, same sit. & a third post by another member. fwiw the problem w/ #s 1235, 1237, 1240. At least some other posts on same page are OK.
It is not the first I have been unable to Quote, but I always thought general outage that eventually gets fixed.
Why would it be a problem only for some posts on a page?

[The Wolf Man]

Originally Posted by ConstantOgler

Trying to start a post with a quote in the EU Referendum disc, I found the quote button not working. Another post by same member, same sit. & a third post by another member. fwiw the problem w/ #s 1235, 1237, 1240. At least some other posts on same page are OK.
It is not the first I have been unable to Quote, but I always thought general outage that eventually gets fixed.
Why would it be a problem only for some posts on a page?

Most likely a temporary system glitch.

[Bill derBerg]

This is probably a timing issue.

Say the original poster went back and was editing the original text. To ensure the integrity of the text the system would, by necessity, need to lock out all other activity for that post.

If two users attempted to 'quote' the material simultaneously the system would allow the first request and lock out all others until the first request had been satisified. With VEF having a half a million members this probably happens more than would be expected.

[Cygni]

...For my part, I can't post anything since a week ago. And I was not bad enough to be banned. The site freezes every time, with an ad pop-up window in the background. A pub too intrusive, perhaps?

... Incognito navigation must be disabled, of course. It's new ! Thanks you Wolf Man for your patience...

[ConstantOgler]

Originally Posted by Bill derBerg

This is probably a timing issue.

Say the original poster went back and was editing the original text. To ensure the integrity of the text the system would, by necessity, need to lock out all other activity for that post.

If two users attempted to 'quote' the material simultaneously the system would allow the first request and lock out all others until the first request had been satisified. With VEF having a half a million members this probably happens more than would be expected.

A good hypothesis for a single post, but not for several posts on the same discussion page at the same time. Not that much activity. Also, I could check, likely at least 2 of those 3 were never quoted at all.

[Isegrim]

I had the same problem a week ago when I tried to quote this post: http://vintage-erotica-forum.com/sho...postcount=1272
Does not work right now either (so no timing problem). This is rather much text. Can it be due to the size? Maybe some to small buffer for the quotation function?

[Bill derBerg]

Originally Posted by ConstantOgler

A good hypothesis for a single post, but not for several posts on the same discussion page at the same time. Not that much activity. Also, I could check, likely at least 2 of those 3 were never quoted at all.

It sounds like a system glitch where record locking would be concerned. I'm not privy to the backend of VEF, however, I would suggest it is written as a database application. The database management system (dbms) is responsible for handling locks, updates and general account management. In a normal dbms situation, (ie)corporate use, there is a small number of users accessing a large number of records. On the web it is a many to many relationship. When a site gets to be as large and active as VEF the dbms is going to be taxed. It is for this reason I suggested the fault lies in the record locking mechanism.

[Isegrim]

Originally Posted by Bill derBerg

... It is for this reason I suggested the fault lies in the record locking mechanism.

But what exactly triggers the error? And if one record is locked does it stay locked for ever (see my post)? And is it locked for every one (can you today quote the post I mentioned)?

[Bill derBerg]

Originally Posted by Isegrim

I had the same problem a week ago when I tried to quote this post: http://vintage-erotica-forum.com/sho...postcount=1272
Does not work right now either (so no timing problem). This is rather much text. Can it be due to the size? Maybe some to small buffer for the quotation function?

I went to the thread you linked and attempted to quote Rick Danger's posts. None of his posts which spanned more than one screen would quote with text. I was able to quote smaller posts like yours about HAL. You're probably right about the amount of text being an issue.
==========

After posting this reply I went looking for a reason for the text size limitation. This is what I found.

There is a setting on the User CP->Edit Options->Miscellaneous Editor Interface which allows you to specify a simpler interface than the WYSIWYG default. When I switched the setting to Standard Editor and went back to the thread I was able to quote any message regardless of the size of the post. So it would appear the WYSIWYG editor enforces a quote size limitation.

If you don't want to make this switch you could select some relevant text from the post you are quoting and simply use the "Wrap Selected Text" in quotes button.

[Isegrim]

Bill derBerg
Thanks for your effort but my idea seemingly has been disproved in this very moment. I tried to quote a post with less than one line and it did not work either ...
It's this post: http://vintage-erotica-forum.com/sho...ostcount=11580
I cannot see anything special in it except that it quotes an older (but not much older) post.

The "Wrap Selected Text" option you mentioned sounds useful. How do you activate it?