Even though I had the same problem re-appearing this morning, and again the ' was present, I can't reproduced it on my system. What we know so far, is :

- The users who had the problem DID NOT have slow PCs.
- They both had Windows XP Home Edition
- They both had Internet Explorer, version 6.0
- An apostrophe WAS NOT present in all cases

That's all the help I can offer ZT, I am at a loss too. Somehow I suspect that it is not related to the PC's hardware (Speed), but more to a combination of software, like Windows and IE. Tonight, I might come up with more details, as I plan to question the users who haven't had this problem, about their configuration.

Definitely, it's not happening with Firefox, or IE 5 or Netscape.

Thanks for those points oldengine & sv1cec, whats weird is:

- I don't have a slow pc (unless you call 3.2 GHZ Intel Pentium 4 slow o_o)
- I use Windows XP Home Edition
- I use Internet Explorer 6.0

Perhaps where missing 1 other detail .. i'll keep my eyes open.

- Zero Tolerance

Zero, what about Java/Javascript versions? Can that be a reason? I am not familiar with Java/Javascripts, do you have to download anything in order to have the latest release? Can that be a factor?

Javascript is browser side, it's all built in to the browser (hence why different browsers have troubles with the same js code in different ways)

- Zero Tolerance

I hadn't had this happen to me then last night it did it to me several times. I am on a very fast PC and a very fast connection. I can't seem to point to any one issue, it just "happens" with no rhyme or reason. My members want me to revert to the old version...

Are we sure that a previous version didn't have that issue? Which version was stable?

One more element, the bug happens with other versions of Windoze as well, like 98. The common denominator seems to be Internet Explorer 6.

UPDATE

OK, after hours spend with one of my users, we have found the following:

A user is typing a message and hits Post when at the bottom of the browser it says "Opening page ...." (that is happening when the client is refreshing the page). The user hits Post while at the bottom, it still says "Opening page....". Then he continues to type something WITHOUT CLICKING AGAIN INSIDE THE POST MESSAGE BOX. Whatever he types now, gets send to the server, a few letters at a time. Some letters are even lost. The user can see what he is typing.

The user I was testing with, was on a dial-up connection, so the 8 sec refresh is kind of too much for him, there are greater chances of hitting post during the "Opening page" phase.

IE5 is doing the same thing, only a little differently. If you hit the Post while the browser is in Opening page, and then you continue to type, WITHOUT CLICKING WITH YOUR CURSOR IN THE POST MESSAGE BOX, you can hear the post button being pressed and see it being pressed as you type. The difference is that with IE5, you DO NOT SEE the words you type, while with IE6, the user can see the words he types. Also, with IE5, what you type is not going to the server (hense no words are slit and send as messages), while with IE6 it is send to the server. If you stop typing and click inside the post message box and start typing again, it returns to normal.

To recap:

- The bug starts when the user hits Post (or Enter) when the browser is in the "Opening page...." condition. Whatever he types after that, is spilled out to the server, in random chunks.
- The bug does not occur if the user clicks inside the Post Message box before starting typing again.
- The bug stops if the user clicks inside the Post Message box and continues typing.

There you go folks, I hope this helps. We can now recreate it at wish, at least in my board.

Alright, that's probably why i could never re-create the bug myself .. i'm on a 2mb internet connection.

So here's the plan, while the iframe is refreshing, the post input box will be disabled untill it has reloaded, then it will be enabled. To me that seems like the only valid way of getting around this.

- Zero Tolerance

Zero, I am not sure about it. I mean, for how long will the box be disabled? If it takes as long as the Opening page phase, that can almost disable typing on people with a slower connection. Do you think it will solve the problem, or are we going to create more?

Well it will mean that users will have to wait for the iframe to reload (not so good for users on slow modems), but if you can think of a better method/solution then please let me hear it :)

- Zero Tolerance

Master Coder, you are the expert not me. What I am trying to say, is that now, we know what the problem is, and a way to avoid it: click in the box before you start typing.

Disabling the typing box on slow connections will create more problems than it will solve, because most of the time, the users will not be able to type. That will make the chat unusable for them. Of course, we could run some tests with dial-up users and see, but somehow I think it wouldn't be good.

I would suggest that you print a warning for IE 6 users, explaining what the problem is, and letting them take it into account. It's not a program's bug as it is evident by users of Firefox, Netscape and even IE5, it's an Explorer issue, so they have to learn how to use the program with that browser. What I'll do on my board, tonight, is to put a message which will say to the users how to avoid the problem, and how to stop it if it starts. From then on, they are on their own.

Rgds