If you don't include one, you'll get an error and the text you entered (unfortunately) isn't saved.

... actually they just disappear. I used to have so much trouble with that. Now I wish some of my posts would just disappear.

If you get the yellow "You did not enter a subject line" error then you should just be able to hit the back button on your browser, and what you wrote should still be in the text box. If it is not, you may have something set on your browser which prevents the text box from being re-populated, but that would be specific to your device/browser I'm afraid and not something that I can easily troubleshoot.

The good news is that in the next iteration of our software, which is (hopefully) going to be in open beta in late August, it won't be possible to click the "Post" button without entering a subject line, so the situation you describe won't be able to occur.

Until then though I'm afraid the only solution is to double check that you entered a subject line before posting.

-- EarlG (DU Admin)

when submitting a preview or post.

I recall using a browser extension in the past that let me edit text boxes in an external editor.
Among the countless extensions I load up for three separate browsers.
This presumably (!) would save the text when the browser's text box empties.

chrome-bee (bee for browser external editor) seems worth a try.
Works with chrome (and hopefully Opera, based on chrome) and Firefox.
https://github.com/rosmanov/chrome-bee

But not safari, now that I have the latest MacOS safari, and use it a lot.
I'll keep looking.

The sneakiest way to lose a post is when the subject is on my trash list.
But that's entirely my fault, and why I misspell certain words on purpose.

Happy posting!

response is not directly related to the article or post you are replying to which would by necessity require a subject line as a notice of sorts that you are digressing from the discussion or heading in a different direction.

It does not have to be like that. Other sites don't behave like that. The browser is Firefox, a popular browser.

We can hope it gets fixed in the new site being designed and tested now.

I've asked about in the forum for asking administrators and there has been no reply.

Usually I encounter this after typing a long and brilliant commentary.
I take it as a sign from the universe that what I thought was so important did not need to be said; a small whittling away of the ego.

I will use a notepad on my device and then copy/paste from there, to make sure I don't lose it. Unfortunately that seems to be a necessary workaround to the problem.