What's annoying is that if I hit back on my browser, it goes back to the original quoted post - meaning I lost all of that work.
Please find out what caused this, if possible. I realize forum software isn't that simple and it may not be something that can be found immediately, but I really hate losing all that time and work for nothing.
First, we cannot find out what causes this. Consider it a site "feature".
Second, there is a relatively easy, though annoying solution. Compose your reply and when you are done, before clicking on Post, highlight all of the text in your post block by pressing CTRL+A, CTRL+C (or CMND+A, CMND+C for Mac). If you click on Post and have the same error, just go back and CTRL+V paste your reply back into the box.
Now, the next step is to find that one word or character combination that the software doesn't like. What I do right after CTRL+V pasting my original reply back into the box is to delete all but the first paragraph/sentence, then I click on Preview and if it works, then I CTRL+V paste the original response again and delete everything after the second paragraph/sentence. If Preview works again, then I repeat the process until I find what the software doesn't like, then I change it.
Yes, it's an absolute pain in the ass, but this is what we have to do until the owner decides to return and run this place fully.