Bug in the "minimum post length" checker

[enderlord99]

If you put a bunch of spaces before another character at the end of an otherwise too-short post, the software counts them all towards the post's length, then deletes all but one of them.

[Grey_Wolf_c]

If you put a bunch of spaces before another character at the end of an otherwise too-short post, the software counts them all towards the post's length, then deletes all but one of them.

Note that it doesn't actually delete them. The forum displays all consecutive spaces as a single space, but if you quote or edit the post, you will see the spaces are still there. I believe this is the intended effect.

Grey Wolf

[LibraryOgre]

If you put a bunch of spaces before another character at the end of an otherwise too-short post, the software counts them all towards the post's length, then deletes all but one of them.

The Mod Ogre: We know about it. We expect folks to use it sparingly, partially because it's hard to use it without contributing to minor spam (which is a warnable offense).

[Rawhide]

Note that it doesn't actually delete them. The forum displays all consecutive spaces as a single space, but if you quote or edit the post, you will see the spaces are still there. I believe this is the intended effect.

Grey Wolf

Note that it's not actually the forum that deletes them, it's your browser. It's part of the HTML standard.

<div>It allows you
        <a href="fake">to space</a>
                your
        <a href="fake">code out</a>
        and still have it
        display correctly.
</div>

[enderlord99]

So... the forum software changes the enter key to "<br />" so the browser can change it back, but it doesn't alter spaces in an equivalent way?

[KillianHawkeye]

So... the forum software changes the enter key to "<br />" so the browser can change it back, but it doesn't alter spaces in an equivalent way?

Well, it has to do that to display the line break, but converting all spaces into non-breaking spaces would just be absurd.

[enderlord99]

Well, it has to do that to display the line break

Exactly

but converting all spaces into non-breaking spaces would just be absurd.

What would be absurd about it?

[Douglas]

What would be absurd about it?

Well, for one thing it would prevent line wrapping, so any post with any remotely long line in it would get horizontal scrolling.

[KillianHawkeye]

I can think of a small handful of issues that it would probably over-complicate. Trust me when I say that non-breaking spaces are only ever used sparingly in web development, and only when there's good reason. You definitely wouldn't want to use them exclusively.

[Rockphed]

I can think of a small handful of issues that it would probably over-complicate. Trust me when I say that non-breaking spaces are only ever used sparingly in web development, and only when there's good reason. You definitely wouldn't want to use them exclusively.

The only time I can think of using them is in things like "in the year 2 BC" or "in AD 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue!"

[KillianHawkeye]

The only time I can think of using them is in things like "in the year 2 BC" or "in AD 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue!"

Neither of those statements appear to have any need for a non-breaking space, so I'm confused what the intended use would be here.

[Rockphed]

Neither of those statements appear to have any need for a non-breaking space, so I'm confused what the intended use would be here.

They don't need non-breaking spaces, but they look better with non-breaking spaces.

[Roland St. Jude]

Sheriff: So I think this thread has probably run its course. It's not really a board issue anyway, so much as something your browser does as part of standard HTML. Further non-GitP-specific discussion about this phenomenon is probably best taken up in the Mad Science and Grumpy Technology forum.