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You are here: Home / z-Retired Categories / Site Maintenance / If Editing Is Suddenly Wonky on BJ, Tell Me Your Browser Version

If Editing Is Suddenly Wonky on BJ, Tell Me Your Browser Version

by | 81 Comments

This post is in: 

Hey guys,

I have been seeing reports of comment editing issues, starting last night.  Speculation is that it’s related to a browser update.

If you are experiencing new comment-related issues, please:

1 describe what you are experiencing

2 tell me what browser you are using

3 tell me the version of your browser

4 please try another browser

5 share the results from the alternate browser (including all the info I requested above)

This way I can confirm whether or not this is, indeed, a browser-related issue, and which browser(s) are involved.

Update 1: Fair warning, if someone only supplies part of the information I am requesting, I will assume this problem is not a big deal for that person and their input won’t be included in the data set.  If you don’t have the ability to try another browser, please say so, and supply items 1-3.

Update 2: Are you FireFox peeps functional – replying and creating a comment – in text mode?  I’d kind of like to see if FireFox fixes what they fucked up in the next day or two, and if not, ask the developers to look at this on Monday.  Let me know in the comments if the will work for you.

 

Reader Interactions

81Comments

  3. 3.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    Only issue I’m having off the top of my head is the No Visual Tab thing, where you hit Reply and you are seeing the raw HTML. I believe that happens most often in Firefox 85.0 on Mac OSX Big Sur (V11.1). My other main browsing environment is Safari on the iPhone 8.​It doesn’t happen that often so I just roll with it.
    Actually I just got a new and interesting bug while editing this comment. I have a Visual tab but I can’t use it to edit. The content does not appear in the edit box in Visual mode, only in Text mode. This is on the laptop (Firefox/OSX).Never saw that one before.​​​

    Updated update: It’s repeatable. Edit 1, no content in Visual mode.

    Edit 2, it’s there, all is normal. Edit 3 (this one), again no text in Visual mode.​

  6. 6.

    Amir Khalid

    Meanwhile, I’m on the latest auto-updated version of Firefox. I find I have to refresh a few times before I can get the cursor to show up in the comment box.

  10. 10.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    Ah, I see the bug is happening on new comments too. In visual mode, I can’t even create a comment (intermittently). And when I switch from Text to Visual, whatever I’ve typed disappears.

    On non-tech subjects: One of the many random organizations who sends me political text messages is asking me to sign a petition to rename Donald Trump State Park to Ruth Bader Ginsburg State Park. I’m all in favor of that but my main reaction is: There’s a Donal Trump State Park? How did that happen? Is it the name of the dumpster behind a McDonald’s or an actual park?

  12. 12.

    Rob

    @Rob: And I’m having to refresh this page 2-3 times if I want to edit my existing comment or create a new comment. While I don’t comment very often, I don’t remember running into this refresh requirement any time recently.

  14. 14.

    Omnes Omnibus

    Windows 10, FF 84.0.02

    This morning it took about three tries to get the @someone to appear when I tried replying.  Maybe FYWP just didn’t want me to talk to Leto.

  18. 18.

    Ken

    Firefox 85.0 is wonky.  Chrome 88.0.4324.104 is fine.  Windows, 64-bit.

    Wonky symptoms:

    • WYSIWYG editor in “Visual” tab is not editable – don’t get a cursor when you click in it, typing does nothing.
    • This happens in the “Leave a Reply” below the comment.
    • It also happens in the popup when clicking “Reply” to a comment, or “Edit” my own comment.
    • Switching to “Text” tab gives an editable textarea.
    • Sometimes refreshing the page gives a working WYSIWYG editor.

    No idea if this is important, but on clicking “Reply” the Firefox textarea contains:

    <p data-mce-fragment=”1″><a href=”#comment-8061523″ data-mce-fragment=”1″>@OzarkHillbilly</a>: ​</p>
    &nbsp;

    while the Chrome textarea contains:

    <a href=”#comment-8061523″>@OzarkHillbilly</a>:

    &nbsp;

  19. 19.

    Scout211

    WaterGirl,

    In case you need a placebo group for your scientific research:

    No problems using Chrome or Safari on a Mac (Mojave) and no problems using Chrome for iPad or Safari for iPad.

    (I often have to click the “click here to refresh” to get both visual and text boxes in the comment box but that has been ongoing since the big switch over).

  20. 20.

    stinger

    Test — I got a FF update overnight — so far all seems well in commenting.

    ETA: FF 85.0 on Mac OS 10.15.7

  21. 21.

    Ken

    @WaterGirl: Someone who used to hang out at a bookstore, looking at various books on the shelves.

    There’s a cohort that hangs out specifically in the “Relationships and Marriage” section, looking at the illustrations in The Joy of Sex.

  22. 22.

    Barbara

    I don’t seem to have a problem on my laptop, using Firefox.

    I had a problem last night and this morning on Firefox, using an Android device.  In the one case, my Samsung phone, relatively new, high end model, and in the other, my Nook, using Samsung, relatively old, less robust model of Android.  I have to manually hit “text” to enable typing out comments.

  26. 26.

    WaterGirl

    @Ken: I don’t think this will help, but sometimes we like to prove our hypothesis is correct, and sometimes we find out that it’s wrong.

    I have two tests I would like you to do, if you’re willing.

    I assume your two block quotes show what you see in the visual tab, yes?  Or is that what you see in the Text tab?

    If you don’t get the cursor, are you able to highlight something ad delete?

    1. if so, what happens if you edit out the extra stuff that shows up in FireFox, does that make the cursor appear?
    2. What if you switch to the text tab and then switch back to the visual tab, before you do anything else.  Do you get the cursor?>
  30. 30.

    Rob

    @WaterGirl: Taking Ken’s statements as a springboard, these also happen to me:

    • don’t get a cursor when you click in it, typing does nothing.
    • This happens in the “Leave a Reply” below the comment.
    • It also happens in the popup when clicking “Reply” to a comment, or “Edit” my own comment.

    Refreshing, 1 2 or 3 times, allows a cursor to appear and for me to comment or reply. See an earlier comment for my browser/computer stats.

    Ok, I’m really going back to work.

  31. 31.

    Benw

    @WaterGirl: hey I finally saw your question about the pizza dough. Short version: it’s actually really easy and I usually just fix it up while I’m in the kitchen work on other things!

  34. 34.

    Ruckus

    Hey, I have both the visual and text boxes.

    I’d say about 50% of the time I get text only. macOS Big Sur 11.1, Safari 14.0.2

    Haven’t seen the current problem.

    OTOH SHOT TODAY

  35. 35.

    There go two miscreants

    No cursor in Visual mode, only in Text. No amount of refreshing helps so far.Win 10 64bit, Firefox 85.0 just updated overnight.Adding BJ to the Allow Cookies exceptions in FF did not help.Using Edge browser, comment box works normally.
    ETA: Turned OFF the enhanced tracking protection in FF and Visual box now works.​
    ​

    ETA: Spoke too soon; when I come back to edit a second time, Visual no longer working, Text only.
    ​

  36. 36.

    Ken

    @WaterGirl:

    The block quotes are what I see after switching to the Text tab.

    • In Firefox, the Visual is blank and not editable.
    • In Chrome, the Visual shows the “@username:” link

    In Firefox:

    • Switching to Text and back to Visual: Visual still doesn’t work (same symptoms, not editable).
    • Switching to Text, editing or removing the HTML, and back to Visual: Visual still doesn’t work (same symptoms).
  38. 38.

    frosty

    Checking … text works, visual doesn’t. Win10, Firefox 84.0
    OK on mobile. iPhone SE iOS 13.7, Firefox, not sure of the version

  40. 40.

    WaterGirl

    Are you FireFox peeps functional – replying and creating a comment – in text mode?

    I’d kind of like to see if FireFox fixes what they fucked up in the next day or two, and if not, ask the developers to look at this on Monday.

    Let me know in the comments if the will work for you.

  41. 41.

    Ken

    Firefox web console when I click the “Reply” button shows one ERROR:

    NS_ERROR_UNEXPECTED:        tinymce.min.js:2

    That’s http://www.balloon-juice.com/wp-includes/js/tinymce/tinymce.min.js, version 4.9.11 (2020-07-13).  Doesn’t seem to be any more info available about the error.

     

    It’s followed by multiple WARNINGS: “Request to access cookie or storage was blocked because it came from a tracker and content blocking is enabled”, probably unrelated.

  44. 44.

    There go two miscreants

    @WaterGirl: I don’t comment much so it’s not a problem for me. I can just open up in Edge (or use Text mode) if I am desperate to leave a comment!

  45. 45.

    WaterGirl

    From J. R. in WV
    I saw this comment # 154 from Ken and have the same problem:
    “I’m also having intermittent problems with the comment box, and others reported it last night. Might be Firefox-specific.

    In my case, when I hit “Reply” or “Edit”, the comment box “Visual” tab is blank and not editable. I’m typing this in the “Text” tab.​”

    Can’t type in the Visual tab either. Whether I hit Reply to a comment or just go to the comment box at the foot of a thread. When I just now clicked on the text tab, it contained the typical code produced in a comment when you click the Reply button, which was missing when I replied to Ken’s comment.
    Hope this helps.
    Firefox V 84.0.2 on Ubuntu 18.04.5 LTS. For what it’s worth, Firefox is strange on other web sites now  as well… Squirrely in a way I can’t really describe.
  46. 46.

    WaterGirl

    From HB

    Hi, WaterGirl, I’m having an issue posting comments. The cursor is not showing when I open the visual comment box to type a comment and when I try to respond to a comment there is nothing in the box. I switched to text view and while I successfully commented the formatting was off.
    Just a heads-up if anyone else has inexperienced any issues.
  47. 47.

    BruceFromOhio

    1. Cannot enter text into a fresh comment box on Visual tab. I am entering this on Text tab. Cannot enter text into a pop-out reply comment Visual tab either.

    2. Firefox on Windows 10 (20H2)

    3. 85.0

    4. *heavysigh* because I care deeply about this goals of this organization, I’m opening Microsoft Edge Version 88.0.705.53 (Official build) (64-bit) which now wants to update because I do not use this browser very often. ….. and now updated to Version 88.0.705.56 (Official build) (64-bit)

    5. Edge appears to work just fine in all modes (new comment, pop-out reply comment, inline reply comment)

    N. unsolicited comment – appears that FF is getting jacked up on the Visual widget.​

    ETA: after posting, editing comment yields blank Visual tab. Switching to Text tab and all of the markup is now displayed as well i.e. (p data-mce-fragment=”1″)​​

    ETA part 2: Editing in the Text tab on FF completely horked the formatting, my comment is now all squished into one long para.​
    ETA part 3: fixing the formatting

  48. 48.

    PJ

    @WaterGirl: I was having problems last night with commenting, but I updated Firefox last night, and it’s working now.  Mac OS 10.13.6, Firefox 85.0.​
     
    ETA: It works in text mode, too.

  49. 49.

    BruceFromOhio

    @BruceFromOhio:

    Cleared the FF cache, and now I do not have the Visual tab.

    Perhaps this is by design.

    ETA: Visual tab shows up again when updating comment, still does not allow data entry.

    I’ll check back on this thread later if you seek any retesting after configuration update.

  52. 52.

    jeffreyw

    Making a comment just to see if there is a problem here.  Visual tab, FF 85, win 10.  So far no lag but I type too slow for that to be dispositive.  ETA so far so good.  No problem.

  53. 53.

    SiubhanDuinne

    WG, I’m not having any specific issues, but maybe this is the right thread to ask something I’ve been wondering for a while:

    I greatly prefer to compose comments and replies in Text, and almost always switch over from the default Visual before I begin typing.

    Question: Is there some way I can make Text my default to save me that one tiny first-world-problem step? I use iPhone, Safari, whatever the most recent iOS I’ve bothered to download.

  56. 56.

    Bill Arnold

    Firefox 84.0.2 (64-bit)  on Ubuntu (18.04) works in both visual and text mode. (Chrome works too.)

    Plugins include Privacy Badger, NoScript (bunch of sites enabled for balloon-juice interactions), uBlock Origin

  58. 58.

    karen marie

    I think the entire internet is broken.  I haven’t had the problems here others have but I have had multiple occasions recently where I get a “you’ve already said that” notice when posting a comment.  Yeah, I know I repeat myself but is it really necessary for the commenting thingy to point it out so often?

    Google mail has been acting up – buffering and buffering instead of loading my inbox.

    It’s crazy making because I can’t know whether it’s Google, my internet connection, my device, the browser – and of course everyone points the finger at the other guys as the culprit.

    More and more I’m just finding other things to do with my time.  Amazing how much life there is outside of the internet.  Those blankets don’t crochet themselves!

  59. 59.

    WaterGirl

    @SiubhanDuinne:  I asked the developers about this when the site rolled out.  If you have a WordPress login (i.e. front pagers), WordPress remembers what you selected last, and it retains that until you change it.

    For commenters (no WordPress login) they said there is not a good way to either set a default or have it retain your previous setting.

  60. 60.

    CatFacts

    Am on Firefox 85.0 for Mac. Running in private browsing with Adblock plus, as usual. I can comment in text mode but not visual mode. ​Safari is fine.​ I’m having the same text area weirdness as Ken above when I edit a reply in Firefox, though the edit does show up.

  63. 63.

    Central Planning

    @WaterGirl: This is the third time trying to reply to OzarkHillbilly’s comment.

    1. I’m experiencing an inability to type into the Visual editor. When I switch to the Text editor, I see text like what Ken put in comment #18. Also, I am able to click on the Bold, Italic icons, etc. in the Visual tab, and when I switch to the Text tab, I just see extra &nbsp; added at the top of the HTML that shows up like Ken mentioned.
    2. Firefox 84.0.2 (64-bit) on MacOS Big Sur 11.1
    3. See #2
    4. Safari 14.0.2 seems fine
    5. See #4

    If I refresh the page and then try to comment, commenting sometimes works.

  64. 64.

    Just Chuck

    Visual and Text editors work fine on the bottom and in the popup.   FF 84.0.2 on Ubuntu 20.04.2

  66. 66.

    J R in WV

    I have fired up Chromium and it appears to work pretty much as expected and hoped. This comment, for two, and comment # 25 in the new Betty Cracker thread for one.

     

    ETA: Also for editing my comments, see!

     

    ETA2: Version 88.0.4324.96 (Official Build) snap (64-bit)

    of Chromium.

  67. 67.

    J R in WV

    FYI, commenting on the other site I frequent, LGM, was as usual using Firefox, just a couple of tabs over from here. disqus, etc, of course…

  69. 69.

    the pollyanna from hell

    text mode is only way i can comment in latest firefox, let alone edit.​ i can’t find version number, but my update is quite recent.​on ubuntu. i’ve hit text mode three times in this comment.

  70. 70.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    This happens pretty much every time I start reading a new thread.

    • Read thead
    • Start reading comments
    • Find comment I want to reply to
    • Hit reply button
    • Comment box opens in Text mode
    • Say something rude about WaterGirl’s parentage
    • Click the link above the comment box to refresh
    • Enter comment
    • Try to find the comment I was replying to
    • Say something rude about WaterGirl’s parentage again
    • Continue reading the comments

    Windows 10 64-Bit, 20H2(with latest updates), MS Edge Version 88.0.705.50 (Official build) (64-bit).

  74. 74.

    JoyceH

    I’m on Firefox 84, windows 10, and the typing is slow, like I can be a sentence ahead of what appears on the screen. Just now I couldn’t get a cursor in visual, so I’m in text.

  75. 75.

    Brachiator

    Firefox 85.0 on Windows 10

    I tried to copy part of a poster’s comment and reply.

    After clicking the reply button, no reference to the previous comment and I could not paste text or enter new text.

    But this post seems to be OK!

  77. 77.

    H.E.Wolf

    Firefox 84.0 (64 bit), on a desktop Mac.

    Can’t type inside the Visual box at all; and paragraph breaks, using the Text box, don’t stay where I put them.

    Thank you for troubleshooting!

  78. 78.

    lowtechcyclist

    Test post to try editing – well past the 5-minute limit on the post where editing got wonky in Firefox.

    (4.5) Now in MS Edge. Editing works fine.

    Anyhow: (2,3) in Firefox 84.0.2 on a Windows 10 desktop, (1) I clicked on ‘Edit’ and got a blank edit box with none of my comment in it.  So I refreshed the page, and the ‘edit’ icon wasn’t even there to click on, even though it was <2 minutes since I’d posted the comment.

  80. 80.

    trollhattan

    @Ruckus: ​
     
    Addending my earlier “no prob” comment upthread, FF 85.0 Win 10 doesn’t give me an entry cursor replying to another comment. Switching to text tab then works, and includes this code in the frame: p data-mce-fragment=”1″
    Don’t recall if it’s always there.

  81. 81.

    Chris T.

    FireFox 85.0, on a somewhat out of date Mac (I don’t think the macOS version matters that much, it’s more the Firefox version, probably the new 85.0 security stuff). Commenting has always been a bit iffy. Clicking on “click here to refresh” sometimes helps, especially when I have only one tab instead of both, but lately it’s definitely worse.

    Right now I have the “text disappears when I click on visual tab” issue, and no cursor there. Last tested before I typed this much in. Hm, interesting, clicked on visual tab, text disappeared, clicked back to text, and <p> tag got replaced with a blank line.

    Let’s see if this much will post. I’ll also add that I did see the odd data-mce-fragment stuff earlier (not this time so far). Edit: yes, worked (as you can see).

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