I spent 45 minutes writing a post, proofreading, correcting and rewriting. When I clicked on Preview, I was taken to a log-in page. The material I had been writing was irretrievably lost. We all know that on some websites you can retrieve previous entries in a form field by using the Back button. Unless the programmers of the forms chose not to allow this.

Trying to search the forums for "time out" I was told that search terms with less than 4 words would not be accepted. I then searched for "posting automatic time out" and again got the message that a search term had to contain at least four words.

I will not post or even use the site again. I don't write for 45 minutes only to have it go down a black hole. I don't need to put up with such hassles. The people who programmed this site must have worked for Northwest Airlines. I also will not check this site for any answers to this post, so don't bother to write any. You might get timed out while you write.

Did it really say four words? Or did it say four letters?

Ah, that's a bit mean of me, even though you won't be reading this. Sorry you had such a frustrating experience. It's happened to us all. Very long or complicated posts that I want to spend some time over, I often draft in Word. Unfortunately that's a lesson you only learn once you've lost a post. It'll be a shame if you never use the site again, though. It's quite good.

It probably said four letters.

It happened to me once on this site, albeit with a short one liner. personally when I type anything longer than 2 lines and post, I make a copy to my clip board. if the site does not time out, your connection could be broken and when you type really long notes Murphy can strike real bad.

I hope you come back. This is a good site.

Good bye. Have you found another site with the equivalent amount of information about airline and hotel programs that can be found on FT?

Appears this advice was not taken by some here.

Wirelessly posted (Nokia E61i: Opera/9.50 (J2ME/MIDP; Opera Mini/4.0.10031/230; U; en))

Now, why would anyone writing a long post hit Preview for the very first time after 45 min...?