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For the last few hours I have been unable to post a new question on Puzzling Stack Exchange or on Puzzling Meta. I can compose a new question the way I normally do but when I tap the Review your question button, nothing happens (not even an error message).

What could cause this?

Another user has reported the same type of problem today in the following post: "Review your question" button is broken.

This makes me feel that the problem I am experiencing is not specific to my computing environment. The other user is using Firefox, I am using Safari. The other user is using Windows, I am using iPadOS 17.0.1.

Success: After balpha applied their fix, I have been able post 6 questions on Puzzling and 1 question on Puzzling Meta without any problems. Thanks to all involved!

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    In situations like this, clearing cookies (and maybe other site data) may help. Can you try using a different browser, or a different device? Your problem is probably unrelated to this: meta.stackexchange.com/q/399904/334566 but the info there may be helpful. I suspect that the root cause is Cloudflare...
    – PM 2Ring
    Commented Sep 27 at 6:57
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    This bug sounds similar: meta.stackexchange.com/q/382609/334566
    – PM 2Ring
    Commented Sep 27 at 6:59
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    That is indeed puzzling.
    – Joachim
    Commented Sep 27 at 10:05
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    similar report: meta.stackoverflow.com/questions/431721/…
    – rene Mod
    Commented Sep 27 at 11:36
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    It helps for viewers to know which browser(s) on which operation system this issues occurs and whether using a different browser/OS/Network has any effect on the behavior.
    – rene Mod
    Commented Sep 27 at 11:45
  • @rene Thanks for linking the 2 reports together. Now I am confident that the problem is not with my computer.
    – Will.Octagon.Gibson
    Commented Sep 27 at 11:47
  • @mireska2213 cookies are not enough, the issue is with bad JS being stored. You have to clear the browser's cache files.
    – Shadow Wizard
    Commented Sep 29 at 7:12

2 Answers 2

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In preparation for a MathJax upgrade, we added some conditional code based on the version being used. This is necessary because the way you integrate MathJax is slightly different between the versions.

Unfortunately, the branch for the current version in this conditional slightly changed the timing of operations. It moved the access to MathJax.Hub.config.tex2jax.inlineMath to an earlier point in time when MathJax.Hub.config.tex2jax may not be available yet. Thus the exception message reported here and here:

Uncaught TypeError: N.tex2jax is undefined

This exception then prevented the initialization of other functionality, which is why seemingly unrelated things also broke.

I say "may" because it's a question of timing; in particular it's a question of whether certain files are in the browser cache yet or not. That is why people weren't consistently able to reproduce it and why clearing one's browser cache fixed it for most people experiencing it.

I have deployed a fix that changes the timing behavior back to what it was previously.

Thanks for the bug report!

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    Does it mean you are going to upgrade MathJax to v3 (or even v4)? That sounds like great news, this has been long overdue.
    – Emil Jeřábek
    Commented Sep 30 at 10:15
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    @EmilJeřábek I'm not involved in any of that, so I don't know the detailed plans.
    – balpha StaffMod
    Commented Sep 30 at 10:18
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    @balpha Thanks for applying a fix and thanks for explaining the situation.
    – Will.Octagon.Gibson
    Commented Sep 30 at 19:01
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    @EmilJeřábek, yep, that's the plan at least - just posted Upgrade plans for MathJax v3/v4 on meta
    – KyleMit StaffMod
    Commented Sep 30 at 20:25
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Partial solution:

I am able to post new questions on Puzzling Stack Exchange by clearing the history on my iPad Safari browser BUT for every new question, I have to clear the history again (see below).

Clearing history on my iPad Safari browser

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    Clearing history is an unusual solution for browser issues. I'd expect to clear the cache or cookie, but if it worked for you, good to know then.
    – Meta Andrew T.
    Commented Sep 27 at 15:39
  • Are you sure you clear history and not cache? Can you please share screenshot of what you clear?
    – Shadow Wizard
    Commented Sep 29 at 7:11
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    @ShadowWizard I have added a screenshot showing the clearing I do.
    – Will.Octagon.Gibson
    Commented Sep 29 at 7:22
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    Thanks, turns out that they chose to use the wording "history" for everything, including cache files (see here), while other browsers have it in separate places, so it can be confusing. Anyway, to make it clear - the workaround is by removing the browser's cache files, not the browsing history, and turns out that some browsers like Safari put everything in one place and calling it "history". /cc @Meta
    – Shadow Wizard
    Commented Sep 29 at 10:10

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