Vanishing text (NOT threads)

[mr_pikachu]

After a brief discussion in the Fanfic Writers Lounge about this problem (which is still continuing as far as I can tell), it has become apparent that the issue is more widespread than just the Fanfic forum, so I figured that a thread here regarding the topic would be necessary.

(If you'd like to see the original discussion, you can access it here: http://www.pokemasters.net/forums/in...?topic=42540.0. And I apologize for showing the entire address; I'm still trying to get used to using the URL tag without the commands that were present with it on the old forum.)

Basically, what we've discovered is that in threads within and outside the Fanfic forum, some of the posts sometimes appear with no text. They vary in size from small to very large, but the spot in which the text would normally appear is empty. In its place is nothing but empty lines. We believe the variation between the number of empty lines in a post is dependent of the size of the original post. So, extremely long posts (like fanfic chapters, for instance) retain their original size despite losing all of the information within them. Small posts, obviously, remain small. Sometimes posts also appear with a large gray box covering the entire post. Rather than the text being missing, the gray area obscures the text (if it is indeed still there behind the box). One member suggested activating and deactivating the scroll button in the middle of the mouse to remedy the problem (as he has done a few times), but many users such as myself do not have that scroll button to utilize.

This problem and variations of it have been confirmed to have occured for multiple users with varying net connections, so I doubt this is simply an isolated problem between a few computers and the new server. What is odd, however, is that different users seem to have different posts that are problems for them. That is, what is obscured or deleted for one member is perfectly visible to another, and vice-versa.

I thought this needed to be mentioned. If anyone has any ideas, suggestions, or thoughts, please feel free to let me and the rest of us know. Obviously, these incidents make it very difficult for us to fully enjoy the forums, so whatever help you can offer would be appreciated. Thanks.

[Kevin]

Yeah I've had similar problems on posts that have a ton of text in them. Especially those in Fanfics. I've seen it happen on other boards not just here at TPM. I'm not sure what causes it, but clicking the middle mouse button makes it show up for me, like was already said.

I've been looking around for some answers on other sites but can't seem to find anything.

[Number1ChanseyFan]

I have the same problem when I look at large threads, like the sticky thread that I have posted in the G/S/C forum. However, the problem only seems to effect me when I use the Firefox browser. If I use Internet Explorer, the problem seems to go away for me, and I can read every post normally.

[Jeff]

That's pretty bizzare, there's all sorts of weird stuff that happens when I try to scroll that (including the gray box). If this is only happening in Firefox, then it could be a browser bug rather than an SMF bug, who knows.

[Kevin]

The middle click doesn't bother working for that GSC thread...

[mr_pikachu]

I've been wondering what's happened with this. Were you able to find out anything?