I've searched and can't recover anything; I'm sorry that happened.

Sometimes, I make complex posts, and if the browser I'm using crashes, or Ive not saved it, I could lose the post. Some possibilities that come to mind:

1) The easiest is using the "Save" button periodically, even tough it could be confusing to members who are then presented with a partial post in the interim and the post will be annotated as "Edited" in the end.

2) Using the "Preview Post" will prevent the post from displaying prematurely and allows incremental saves that might even survive a browser crash. (You must click on "Go Advanced" to select this option if you have entered a post with the "Edit" command.) (This is my most common choice when writing longer posts - I've used it 2-3x so far with this post.)

3) Writing the post text in an app or word processing program (saving periodically as necessary), formatting / adding BBCode once the text is copied into the post. (If you're pretty familiar with BBCode, you can of course add it in the text processor while you are writing.)

4) Using add-ons, such as Lazarus Form Recovery, mentioned previously.

IMO #2 is easiest, and it has become second nature to use "Preview Post" to me. #3 is the most labor intensive, and #4 the most automated if you don't mind adding add-ons and are willing to take the risk that they could potentially add some glitches to the browser or vBulletin.