It's a wrap

I believe the 470 filing season is over for me. It would have been over sooner, but I got a call at 3:00 p.m. from a school: "Can you do our E-Rate for us?" How could I refuse? Now I think I'll go home before anyone else calls.

It also would have been over sooner if the 470 application hadn't gotten so buggy at the end there. I was averaging 3 crashes per form.

And of course, it would have been over a *lot* sooner if a few clients weren't such procrastinators.

Anyway, in honor of the close of the window, I have a fun "Stupid 470 Trick" for you. It's not a bug per se, since you have to do something verboten to make it happen, but it is kind of amusing.

OK, so here goes:

1. Create a 470 (oh, go ahead, as long as you don't hit "Submit" at the end, it doesn't count).
2. In that page after you get your 470 number, check the boxes to put in Telecom and Internet services (any two categories will probably work, but we'll use these).
3. Put some telecom services in Item 8.
4. Click the "Next>>" button to move to Item 9.
5. Put in and Internet service or two.
6. Use the browser's "Back" button to move back to Item 8. (Do not use the "Previous" button at the bottom of the form. Since you're never supposed to use the "Back" button, this step makes this process a parlor trick, not a bug.)
7. Put one more telecom service in Item 8.
8. Use the "Next>>" button to move back to Item 9.
9. Note that all the telecom services you had put in Item 8 have now overwritten the Internet services you had written in Item 9.

Sure, it's a cool trick to amaze your friends with, but I can tell you, I didn't think it was so cool when I discovered it by accident.

I have not done cross-browser testing, but I'll bet it works no matter what browser you're using. Also, I'll bet you can skip step 7, but I didn't test that, either.