From chx on IRC:
Field API section http://drupal.org/node/443536
Needs to have a child page titled "Form API - Field API integration (and other black magic)"
With the content from http://drupal.org/node/367006#comment-2601522 (more or less), minus the part about what the proper solution should be in Drupal 8.
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It's likely this issue predates Contrib.social: some issue and comment data are missing.