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"Invalid character used in review text"

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TheEliteExtremophile View Drop Down
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    Posted: March 31 2023 at 09:01
Hello! I've got a music review site, where I review (mostly) prog, and I decided I wanted to start posting those reviews here, too. However, after trying to post several reviews, I kept encountering the same error message: "Invalid character used in review text".

I am struggling to figure out what that invalid character may be. Below is an example of one of the reviews I tried to post:

The Emerald Dawn take progressive rock back to the sound of IQ and Marillion on this album, meaning it’s quite synth-heavy. It keeps the tempo down for the most part, moving smoothly along, and the drums often impart a jazzy feel. I’m not the biggest fan of the sound palette on this album, and I wish they would have mixed it up a bit more. And like many, many progressive rock albums, the songs (all 8-20 minutes) have a tendency to become unfocused or drag at moments. But if you’re a big fan of IQ or other neo-prog acts, give this a go!<p>

Review originally posted here: https://theeliteextremophile.com/2019/02/18/odds-and-ends-february-18-2019/

I've also noticed that when I hit "Post," apostrophes get doubled when I'm shown the error page. I even tried replacing the apostrophes, thinking that may have been the issue. (Wordpress's apostrophes are at an angle, whereas this site uses vertical apostrophes.) That wasn't the issue, though, and the apostrophes still got doubled.

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Lewian View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Lewian Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: March 31 2023 at 09:33
I've no idea whether this is the problem, but there are different versions of hyphens, and I think I have seen this error once copying and pasting something with a hyphen that was then set to a nonstandard hyphen in the review and wasn't accepted. I think the standard one "-" is actually "minus", at least that one is surely accepted.
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TheEliteExtremophile View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote TheEliteExtremophile Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: March 31 2023 at 09:46
Originally posted by Lewian Lewian wrote:

I've no idea whether this is the problem, but there are different versions of hyphens, and I think I have seen this error once copying and pasting something with a hyphen that was then set to a nonstandard hyphen in the review and wasn't accepted. I think the standard one "-" is actually "minus", at least that one is surely accepted.


I tried replacing all the hyphens in my review with the one in your post, and that was not the problem. I'm still getting the same error. Thanks for the suggestion, though!
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Logan View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Logan Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: March 31 2023 at 10:12
If you can copy your reviews in plain text form, or paste them into a simple text program (for me with Windows I would use Notepad), the copy and poste that, then that should work. You might still need to edit it a bit in the text program. If you go into Member Control Panel, then Forum Preferences, then disable the WYSIWYG post editor, you could use this thread to paste them into, then copy them and paste them into the reviews boxes (easier ways to do things). It could be different punctuation or code being injected when not pasted as plain text.

The apostrophes might have been an issue, I changed them here into the default forum style (not that that and the reviews part work with the same architecture):

Try posting this in reviews for The Emerald Dawn's Nocturne (quoted from your reviews):

The Emerald Dawn take progressive rock back to the sound of IQ and Marillion on this album, meaning it's quite synth-heavy. It keeps the tempo down for the most part, moving smoothly along, and the drums often impart a jazzy feel. I'm not the biggest fan of the sound palette on this album, and I wish they would have mixed it up a bit more. And like many, many progressive rock albums, the songs (all 8-20 minutes) have a tendency to become unfocused or drag at moments. But if you're a big fan of IQ or other neo-prog acts, give this a go!

------
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TheEliteExtremophile View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote TheEliteExtremophile Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: March 31 2023 at 10:19
Okay, I've determined the issue lies in the URL somewhere. I tried removing my attribution, and I was able to post the unedited text. Now I gotta figure out a way to give myself credit, per the review posting guidelines (and my own desire to hopefully see more traffic at my site).
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TheEliteExtremophile View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (1) Thanks(1)   Quote TheEliteExtremophile Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: March 31 2023 at 10:21
Originally posted by TheEliteExtremophile TheEliteExtremophile wrote:

Okay, I've determined the issue lies in the URL somewhere. I tried removing my attribution, and I was able to post the unedited text. Now I gotta figure out a way to give myself credit, per the review posting guidelines (and my own desire to hopefully see more traffic at my site).


Turns out it was the "https://" part of the URL. I lopped that off, and that allowed me to post. Thanks for your help, everyone!
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