Rick just in case you encounter similar circumstances, highlight all the response by placing the mouse in the lower left corner of all the text, press and hold the left button, move the cursor to the upper right corner and all the text should be highlighted. Release the mouse button, now move the cursor into any area of the text and press the right mouse button. This should result in a pop-up menu that will allow you to select copy. (this is for windows of course). Now, select the start/run and type in notepad.
When notepad has come up, you can place your cursor on a blank area of the notepad window and right click the mouse again. Now use the paste option from the pop-up menu.
The result should be the ability to save all your text, or to keep it here in notepad while you go log in or whatever else you need to do. Once you're back where you want to be, you can copy and paste the data out of notepad into the response box. A little more effort, but easier than re-typing a long reply, at least for me.