Correspondence Regarding Browser Back Gamble

To: Browser Back Button
From: The Person Who Just Pressed You
Subject: I Needed to Check Something

I want to be transparent about what happened. I was three-quarters of the way through a form , the kind with several required fields, one of which I had researched specifically to fill in correctly , and I needed to verify a piece of information on the previous page.

I knew you were there. I considered opening a new tab. I pressed you instead.

The question of whether the typed content will survive the back navigation is answerable only by performing the navigation, at which point the answer is no longer actionable. I performed the navigation. I am writing to you from the empty form.

I want to be clear that I am not angry. I am familiar with your behavior. Every browser handles this differently. The subject knows this. The subject presses back anyway, because hope is faster than opening a new tab.

The previous page contained the information I needed. I found it. The information took approximately twelve seconds to locate. The form I was filling out took seven minutes to reach the point at which I pressed you.

I have now restarted the form. Several of the fields I completed the first time are fields I cannot fully recall, specifically the one I had researched. I am going to attempt to reproduce my earlier work from memory, which is a thing I am doing because I pressed you instead of opening a new tab.

I am pressing you again in a moment because the confirmation page I need is one step back. I have not filled in the field I cannot remember yet. I am going to address that when I get there.

I hold no grievance. You behaved exactly as you always do. This was entirely my decision, made with full awareness of the likely outcome, which is how most of the decisions in this correspondence are made.

Regards,
The person who will press you again shortly