Blank first message on each page

shiradotnet

Well-known member
At first I thought the thread titled 'My Eyes Are Dim" described the problem I'm having. But then as I read more of the thread, it appeared that everybody else was talking about something entirely different.

When I try to view a page of a thread, the top message on that page is blank, and also allocates a very, very large empty box that takes a long time to scroll past.

Somebody on the "eyes are dim" thread suggested maximizing the browser window to full screen. It didn't help.

Somebody on the "eyes are dim" thread suggested using Firefox 20.0.1 That's what I'm using and I still have the problem.

Somebody on the "eyes are dim" thread suggested installing an ad blocker. I tried installing Firefox AdKiller and it didn't help.

Is anybody else having the same problem I am? I'm about ready to give up on this forum altogether, it's just too frustrating and the problem has been going on for quite a while.
 

shiradotnet

Well-known member
At first I thought the thread titled 'My Eyes Are Dim" described the problem I'm having. But then as I read more of the thread, it appeared that everybody else was talking about something entirely different.

When I try to view a page of a thread, the top message on that page is blank, and also allocates a very, very large empty box that takes a long time to scroll past.

Somebody on the "eyes are dim" thread suggested maximizing the browser window to full screen. It didn't help.

Somebody on the "eyes are dim" thread suggested using Firefox 20.0.1 That's what I'm using and I still have the problem.

Somebody on the "eyes are dim" thread suggested installing an ad blocker. I tried installing Firefox AdKiller and it didn't help.

Is anybody else having the same problem I am? I'm about ready to give up on this forum altogether, it's just too frustrating and the problem has been going on for quite a while.
 
Last edited by a moderator:

Pleasant dancer

New member
Yes I'm having exactly the same problem, I'm using Chrome, but it seems to be a problem with other browsers too. I've not been visiting much recently, especially new posts - 'cos I can't read them! :(
 

gisela

Super Moderator
I thought that was exactly what the "eyes are dim" thread was about. Lots of people are having problems with the first post. Some see a completely blank box and some see it as a block of text that has been squished to the left and made a very narrow column that is really hard to read.

The webmaster is working on it.

Meanwhile he suggests this:
Hello, For all of you, who are having problems with the first post, should try the default skin (I've enabled it now). It doesn't fix the problem but still it is better than the other two skins.

It makes it better for me that has the squished problem. I don't know how it works for tose of you that have a completely empty post.
 

gisela

Super Moderator
BTW, you can go to: settings, and then general settings, scroll down a bit, and choose to see more posts per page. Up to 50 posts per page I think. It's a bit more scrolling but you wont miss one in ten posts at least. Just until the problem is fixed.
 

shiradotnet

Well-known member
I thought that was exactly what the "eyes are dim" thread was about.

Well, at first that's what I thought it was about. But then people were talking about squished text and wide ads, which didn't fit what I was seeing. And when I tried the suggested remedies (ad blocker, maximizing browser to full screen, using Firefox version 20.0.1 etc.) none of them worked. Which made me wonder if the original thread had veered off topic to discuss a different problem.
 

gisela

Super Moderator
I think (or hope) it's the same problem, which shows itself differently to different people depending on stuff I have no idea about.
Crossing finger for it being solved soon because it is really annoying.
 

Zumarrad

Active member
That is exactly what the My Eyes Are Dim thread was about. Then people started talking about other stuff.

Installing an ad-blocker has allieviated the problem.
 

Shanazel

Moderator
Well, this is entertaining. I get the squished problem on the default style. The green style has a box that says the page cannot be found in the first post above the OP's message . The purple version a narrow ad for Mozilla in the same place. But now I can't get back to the green style. I've clicked it several times and it returns me purple.

Never mind- back to green now.
 

Salome

Administrator
The missing first post and the squished first post, have to do with the advertisement placed in the first post of every thread. Vbulletin has a fix for this problem. Unfortunately the fix isn't working. vbulletin say's they are trying to resolve it. I check on a daily basis, as soon as it is released, I will be integrating it.

I understand it is a huge pain in the ass not to see the first post, or have a giant empty space. But I am in a bit of a quandary because that ad placement earns, literally, half of the revenue for the forum. If I remove it, it's really going to hurt. I understand if people get burned out on waiting. If folks leave, please come check back, there will be a fix.

EDITED TO ADD: not the vbulletin fix but I was able to discover and try a small tweak - please let me know if it did anything.
 

shiradotnet

Well-known member
The missing first post and the squished first post, have to do with the advertisement placed in the first post of every thread. Vbulletin has a fix for this problem. Unfortunately the fix isn't working. vbulletin say's they are trying to resolve it. I check on a daily basis, as soon as it is released, I will be integrating it.

I'm sure this must be intensely frustrating for you. I'd be snarling and gnashing my teeth if I were in your position!

I understand it is a huge pain in the ass not to see the first post, or have a giant empty space. But I am in a bit of a quandary because that ad placement earns, literally, half of the revenue for the forum. If I remove it, it's really going to hurt.

I totally support the idea of displaying ads to generate revenue. It's very expensive to run a large, complex web site like this. I just wish Vbulletin had delivered to you a product that worked correctly! But I don't blame YOU for their failing.

EDITED TO ADD: not the vbulletin fix but I was able to discover and try a small tweak - please let me know if it did anything.

I'm still seeing the first message on each page displayed as an enormous blank box.
 

Safran

New member
Yeah, unfortunately it is still not working... and the issue is that there isn't even an ad in the first post... there is always an ad at the last post for me, but the post is always perfectly readable. However, in the first post there is just one big blank area, and very narrow text area (if we're dealing with a quote, then the width of the text area is exactly one character, that is a very odd reading experience :lol:)
 

gisela

Super Moderator
Have you all tried the default skin? It makes the text area a bit wider for me at least. Not perfect but a little easier to read.
 

Salome

Administrator
I'm sure this must be intensely frustrating for you. I'd be snarling and gnashing my teeth if I were in your position! I totally support the idea of displaying ads to generate revenue. It's very expensive to run a large, complex web site like this. I just wish Vbulletin had delivered to you a product that worked correctly! But I don't blame YOU for their failing.
I'm still seeing the first message on each page displayed as an enormous blank box.

Thanks for your understanding! We will get to the bottom of it. Arun is working on manually doing the fix because vbulletin basically said yesterday afternoon that there is no proposed date of the fix being fixed, that doesn't sound good. Let's hope by this evening or sometime tomorrow we will see a big difference! Fingers crossed :)
 

Salome

Administrator
Dear faithful and stalwart members! We removed the ad from the first post. I didn't necessarily want to do that because it is a valuable placement, however there was just no resolving it any other way. Our experience on the forum doesn't need to be fraught with difficulty trying to deduce what the type is in the first post. So the good news is the missing and squished first post issue is fixed. We put the ad in its own post right after the first post and hopefully that will do ok. I know this was reallllllllly frustrating and i appreciate you all dealing with it.
 

shiradotnet

Well-known member
Thanks so much for all your efforts to troubleshoot this stuff! Maybe once Vbulletin sends out a fix you can return the ad to the top post on the page. For now, the position right below the first message looks good as a temporary measure.
 
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