Last modified: 2013-03-25 15:26:58 UTC
When a Wikipedia page is in Edit mode, there is a checkbox underneath the editing pane with the label "This is a minor edit". Next to this is hyperlink which says "(what's this?)", which links to a page describing what a minor edit is. If the user clicks the "(what's this?)" link to help them determine whether or not their edit is minor, the linked page is displayed in the same window (or browser tab), causing all the user's unpublished edits to the page to be lost. The problem is not solved by using the browser back button, as the site asks the user if they wish to resubmit the form, which of course resets the Wikipedia edit page to its original status (i.e. without the user's unpublished edits). This problem happens in Google Chrome and probably in most other web browsers. To prevent users from losing the unpublished edits they have made, the help link for Minor Edits should open in a new window, like the 'Editing Help' link does. Also, users should be advised that, to avoid losing their unpublished edits (because of unexpected software, hardware or connectivity problems), they should periodically copy all of the text from the editing pane, paste the text into a text file (e.g. using Windows Wordpad or Notepad) and save it to their computer as a back-up.
Are you certain? First of all, when clicking the 'what's this?' link on enwiki, there is a javascript alert saying 'Are you sure you want to navigate away from this window?' This is a default warning apparently. I clicked 'okay' anyway and got to the place explaining what a minor edit is. Then used my browser's back button and my edits remained there. My own tests were performed in Firefox, Chrome and Opera. There were performed while logged in (as logged out users do not have the 'minor edit' tick). I cannot reproduce your bug report.
Yes, I am certain that I do not get a warning in Google Chrome (although I am glad to report that I do get this warning in Firefox). I have just tried it again. I was logged in to Wikipedia, clicked 'Edit', made a small change to the text, clicked the 'Minor Edit' help link, and there was no warning about leaving the page - the help page loaded immediately. I am using: Newest version of Google Chrome (4.1.249.1064) Windows XP SP3 However, I am now getting different results with regard to the unpublished edits being lost. In all of my tests today, I had clicked the 'Show Preview' button before clicking the 'Minor Edit' help link. When going back from the 'Minor Edit' help page, Chrome sometimes displayed the following message, sometimes not: "Confirm Form Resubmission This web page requires data that you entered earlier in order to be properly displayed. You can send this data again, but by doing so you will repeat any action that this page previously performed. Press Reload to resend that data and display this page." But in either case, my unpublished edits WERE still in the Edit page; I have not been able to reproduce the loss of unpublished edits I experienced yesterday (after spending 2 hrs editing a page!).
The alert window with Chrome sounds like a cache issue, try purging your cache so you can get the newest JavaScript. Your issue with the lost of two hour editing is a unfortunate, but remember this, edit tokens only last for so long, certainly not two hours. This would get the software confused, I'd recommend you use 'show preview' during a lot edit session now and then to avoid data loss.
Just deleted my Chrome cache and re-started the browser. Same problem - no warning when clicking the 'Minor Edit' help link. In the Edit page's source code, the Script tags are pointing to the following external scripts, if that's any use: http://bits.wikimedia.org/skins-1.5/common/wikibits.js?278z63 http://bits.wikimedia.org/skins-1.5/common/jquery.min.js?278z63 http://bits.wikimedia.org/skins-1.5/common/edit.js?278z63
I forgot to add in my original post that I am using the 'new features' layout. However, I just reverted to the old layout and had the same problem with no warning on the 'Minor edit' help link.
