I just spent two hours writing up about my theatre trip. When I posted, it said my message was too long and to go back and shorten it. When I went back to do try. It was gone....
Now that I see your horses frolicking in the meadow, may I offer you a lock for the barn door?
After composing, but prior to preview or post, select the entire text with the mouse and press the Ctrl and C keys simultaneously (this puts the contents on your clipboard). If the test subsequently disappears into the cyber netherworld, simply start a new "Reply" (not Reply with quote) and press the Ctrl and v keys simultaneously - this will paste the text back into the form.
After you suffer sufficient pain, you may develop the habit of preparing lengthy posts in a word document from which you can cut and paste into the appropriate HHW form.
I shall reserve for you a copy of my forthcoming book" "Anal Retentiveness for Dummies".
der Brucer
Added note: if you copy and paste your proposed post into a processor like MS Word, you get the added bonus of spell checking prior to posting (which I did and found 3 errors in the above which have been fixed).