Bullet point failure

[OpizpuHeuvHiyo]

I just had a total failure of the bullet-pointing automation. I have seen it before in other people's posts.

I am posting using Chrome on a samsung phone.

I wrote an 8 point numbered list on another thread with each point starting with numbers 1-8. It looked fine when I pressed "post" but when the post appeared all the numbers had autoincorrected to 1. 8 items all numbered 1.

I edited immediately to replace each number with a number i brackets e.g. (2) which didn't get autoincorrected..

I will attempt to recreate this in a second post below.

Trying to recreate the error to demonstrate it

1. This is my first item, which I have numbered with a 1.

1. This is my second item which I have numbered with a 2

1. This is my 3rd item which I have numbered with a 3.

In this post I have put a full stop after each number. I cannot remember whether or not I did that in the 8-item post

I really wish they'd just get rid of the auto numbering, it's easy enough to put in numbers manually if you need to and never seems to work properly.

Hi OP

Thanks for letting us know about this - we're taking a look into it now.

It's because you've done an extra line break in between each number, which is not necessary - the software automatically inserts a paragraph break between each number. Because you've put the extra line break in, it is seeing each item as a separate list.

For example (single line breaks, in the edit window these lines have no space between them, but in the final post, there will be a small space between each item)

1. This is my point
2. This is another point directly below
3. This is the last point

Then this is what it looks like with double line breaks:

1. I've written something here

1. Then I've made a gap between them and done another one

1. Now I've tried to do a third and it's made it into 1 again.

I've added a screenshot of what it looks like in the edit window. BTW, the second list I also typed as 1, 2, 3 but it automatically changed each into a one.

The other time you get an issue relating to this is when people ask a question where the answer is a number, like "What year did you/what age were you when you..." and people answer "1975. It was a great year because blah blah" - this makes the software not see "1975" as a sentence with a full stop, but as the first part of a numbered list.

@BertieBotts I figured that out, but an automation that can't cope with perfectly normal ways of typing is useless. Obviously if you are just typing a shopping list you don't need line breaks, but my post had 8 numbered paragraphs so obviously I put in line breaks when composing, or my post would have looked like a horrible undifferentiated block of text before I pressed "post". If the automation cannot cope with a poster who puts in line breaks between paragraphs it ought to be either switched off or set to only come on if each item in a numbered list is just a few words long.

Yeah I totally agree. It doesn't add any functionality to be able to put any old random numbers in, because the way MNers are likely to use numbered lists does not need that feature. It's useful in something like writing a plan, because it means you can insert a number later and it automatically adjusts all other numbers. But it's totally overengineered for a discussion forum.