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Why Strict URLs Can Break POST-Based Forms

A form-handling warning for legacy projects where URL normalization redirects interfere with POST data and silently break form processing.

URL normalization sounds harmless until it meets a form submission. If a plugin decides that the current URL must be redirected, the form payload may never arrive where the processing snippet expects it.

The donor case

On pages that used snippets expecting $_POST data, Strict URLs could trigger a redirect first. After that redirect, the POST payload was gone.

Why this matters

  • forms appear broken even though the snippet logic is fine
  • the bug is intermittent because it depends on URL shape
  • it is easy to misdiagnose as an eForm or validation issue

Typical responses

  • store POST temporarily in session before redirect handling
  • disable URL normalization on form-processing pages
  • avoid redirect-triggering URL variants entirely

This is a good reminder that SEO plugins and form flows are coupled more tightly than they look.

Newer post

Avoiding Duplicate Product URLs Across Multiple Categories

A catalog architecture note on handling products that appear in several categories without creating unnecessary duplicate URLs.

Older post

Understanding OnWebPagePrerender and Cached Output

A cache-debugging note for developers who expect OnWebPagePrerender changes to be frozen in the page cache but see output still changing on every request.