469697 - Text typed in text box can be lost if server throws it away

Status: UNCONFIRMED

(Firefox :: General, enhancement)

Description

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User-Agent:       Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; Linux x86_64; en-US; rv:1.9.0.4) Gecko/2008111415 Mandriva/1.9.0.4-0.1mdv2009.0 (2009.0) Firefox/3.0.4
Build Identifier: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; Linux x86_64; en-US; rv:1.9.0.4) Gecko/2008111415 Mandriva/1.9.0.4-0.1mdv2009.0 (2009.0) Firefox/3.0.4

I typed a lengthy question to a website's feedback page. When I pressed submit I got a message that the service was unavailable. I pressed the back button hoping to copy and paste the question into a text app to save for later. However the text was gone. It would be nice if Firefox could hold on to text box contents when the back button is pressed regardless of what the server does. Imagine typing a long bug report here and losing it all because bugzilla had a problem. Bugzilla probably doesn't behave so badly but some websites do.

Reproducible: Always

Steps to Reproduce:
1. Log into https://my3.three.co.uk with a 3-mobile account
2. Go to Contact form and try and contact them
3. Press Submit and get told the service is unavailable right now
4. Press Back button
Actual Results:  
All fields now blank

Expected Results:  
Fields still have the text in them

Hold onto what people type into text boxes with grim determination.

Comment 1

[Nochum Sossonko [:Natch]]

If the website sends the no-store or no-cache header firefox won't cache the page and the back button won't bring the form data back. This is necessary for privacy/security reasons and is a bug in the website or by design.

See bug 86264, bug 45096, etc.

Comment 2

[Nochum Sossonko [:Natch]]

err bug 450966

Comment 3

[Tyler Downer [He/Him]]

This is a mass search for bugs which are in the Firefox General component, are
UNCO, have not been changed for 500 days and have an unspecified version. 

Reporter, can you please update to Firefox 3.6.10 or later, create a fresh profile, http://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/managing+profiles, and test again. If you still see the issue, please update this bug. If the issue is gone, please set the status to RESOLVED > WORKSFORME.