Tom,

There's only one way that could happen. I tried to anticipate this scenario by creating one, separate, message form for each message to which you're replying, and one message form if you're creating a new root post. Each message form is tied back to either a "parent" message or the front page.

The only way to lose a message form is by clicking Post (front page) or Reply (inside a message) twice. Sounds like you wanted to have more than one new root message form open. Not unreasonable--I thought of doing it this way in the first place because I often work on more than one message at a time, but in my case it's usually replying to multiple messages. I didn't think of the possibility of working on more than one root message at a time. I'll make a note to look at the problem next time I'm working on that part of the system.

A workaround, if you want to have multiple root message forms open, is to open the first message form, then press control-N. This clones a new message form that peacefully coexists with the first.

Sorry about losing your message, Tom. I know you often put a lot of work into your writing, and I hope this wasn't one of the longer essays.

--Robert