Long excerpts (>255 ch) kills page

PropertySet Lies.

setText and setString are treated identically by the Hibernate PropertySet provider - both are stuffed into the same VARCHAR(255). So when you try to create an excerpt >255ch, the page dies.

We need to either

(a) enforce the 255ch limit more effectively, or
(b) fix PropertySet Hibernate provider, or
(c) use some other mechanism for persisting clobs.