Can't open latest postings in a thread

[ProfJohnL]

I seem to be having a problem with some threads where I cannot open the last page:

In the Towing, driving and safety topic area the “Spotted: Tuesday 5th Oct doing 80mph” Thread shows 3 pages and last post 11 Nov. 10

But when I try to open the thread all I can get is 2 pages with t the youngest post being Fri, Nov 5 2010, 3:03PM

It only seems to happen on this thread
Can the techies advise please.

 

[Parksy]

Hi Prof. John
As you and I are both painfully aware I am not a tekkie but I may be able to shed a bit of light onto the situation.
There has been at least one posting which was removed from the forum because it was offensive but because I have been out (Thursday night = Pub night for me), I'm afraid that at the moment I don't know which one it was and who had submitted it.
I'm guessing that the topic/ thread that you mentioned has been rather contentious, somebody overstepped the mark and their post was taken down by Damian who was 'on duty' trying to keep the forum respectable at the time but it will still show up on the information tally as an existing post because we can't easily remove 'next page titles' even though the actual content is no longer visible.

 

[DerektheSecond]

Hi Prof. John
As you and I are both painfully aware I am not a tekkie but I may be able to shed a bit of light onto the situation.
There has been at least one posting which was removed from the forum because it was offensive but because I have been out (Thursday night = Pub night for me), I'm afraid that at the moment I don't know which one it was and who had submitted it.
I'm guessing that the topic/ thread that you mentioned has been rather contentious, somebody overstepped the mark and their post was taken down by Damian who was 'on duty' trying to keep the forum respectable at the time but it will still show up on the information tally as an existing post because we can't easily remove 'next page titles' even though the actual content is no longer visible.

Yes it was quite a bit "over the mark"

 

[Soozeeg]

Prof. John, can I ask why all that peculiar stuff in brackets appears on some of your posts? It makes it very hard indeed to read.

 

[Lord Braykewynde]

Prof. John, can I ask why all that peculiar stuff in brackets appears on some of your posts? It makes it very hard indeed to read.

Because he's a professor of algebra you silly girl

 

[Soozeeg]

Because he's a professor of algebra you silly girl

Ah! That explains why I don't understand it all.......I don't 'do' maths!

 

[JohnDuncan]

That's about the gist of it yes - when comments get deleted, the process which updates the 'latest post' stats doesn't recognise it. It's on my list for a permanent fix, but I'll fix it temporarily today...

 

[Damian]

Hello John L,
The posting you refer to was indeed removed by myself.
It was totally out of order, extremely rude and the poster has been banned from the forum as a result.
I am not prepared to repost what was said, but John Duncan does have a copy in case of any repercussions.

 

[JohnDuncan]

Oh agreed, it was totally delete- and ban-worthy...

 

[ProfJohnL]

Parksy Damian and John, Thanks for the information,

Hi Soozeg,
I was not aware of there being a problem with my posts, until a few days ago when Damian made much the same comment as your self. I do not know how or why you see the 'algebra', I get no indication of it at all. I can only speculate that it may be due to preparing some of the more complex answers in Microsoft Word, and copy and pasting, but as I say I do not get any strange characters in either the forum or in Word

 

[Parksy]

Is the Rich Text enabled or disabled when you copy / paste your reply John?
I never see any strange 'algebraic' symbols on your posts but I'm into symbolism. So much so that way back in the late 60s I used to play in a beat group which were called 'The Symbolics'.
My stage name was 'Sym', the other two lads were not much good though.

 

[ProfJohnL]

Hello Parksy,

I have just created this answer in MSWord, and cut and pasted to the forum.

I have never switched the rich text from its default setting, so I don’t know if that’s a factor or not, though it might be.

Let me know if this produces the hieroglyphics.
Cheers

 

[Damian]

Online

Joined: 14 Mar 2005

Hello Parksy,
<!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--><!--[if !supportEmptyParas]-->
<!--[endif]--><!--[endif]-->
I have just created this answer in MSWord, and cut and pasted to the forum.
<!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--><!--[if !supportEmptyParas]-->
<!--[endif]--><!--[endif]-->
I have never switched the rich text from its default setting, so I don’t know if that’s a factor or not, though it might be.
<!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--><!--[if !supportEmptyParas]-->
<!--[endif]--><!--[endif]-->
Let me know if this produces the hieroglyphics.
<!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--><!--[if !supportEmptyParas]-->
<!--[endif]--><!--[endif]-->
Cheers

Hello John, yes it does.
After every line of text there are :

<!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--><!--[if !supportEmptyParas]-->

and above every line of text is : <!--[endif]--><!--[endif]-->

 

[Parksy]

forum/our-website/cant-open-latest-postings-thread?page=1#comment-799967

Online

Joined: 14 Mar 2005

Hello Parksy,

I have just created this answer in MSWord, and cut and pasted to the forum.

I have never switched the rich text from its default setting, so I don’t know if that’s a factor or not, though it might be.

Let me know if this produces the hieroglyphics.

Cheers

That's strange
I can see the heiroglyphics on Damian's copy but the don't appear on my screen. Above is a copy of what I see.

 

[Damian]

Well,,the plot thickens,,,,,,,,,,,,,why do I and others see all the <!--[endif]--><!--[endif]--> and <!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--><!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--> between the text?

The other reply by John in another topic with rich text disabled does not show the same hieroglyphics

 

[Soozeeg]

It's got all that hieroglyphics stuff on my screen as well. You and I must be special, Damian

 

[Rita1]

I get all the hieroglyphics stuff on my screen if i use Internet Explorer But not when i use Google Chrome So its possible a Browser error

 

[Parksy]

I get all the hieroglyphics stuff on my screen if i use Internet Explorer But not when i use Google Chrome So its possible a Browser error

I gave up on Internet Explorer ages ago, it doesn't seem to work too well with this forum. I use Firefox

 

[Lord Braykewynde]

I use I.E.8 running W7 and I see all that funny stuff on Proffs postings.
I'm getting fed up with I.E. because lately it's started freezing up, especially if I've got a few windows open.
What is involved by changing to Firefox regarding my Favorites etc. Is it easy to export them?

 

[ProfJohnL]

Virtually since it became available I have been using Chrome for PC forum. I conclude form the above replies that it is something to do with the rich text setting (just below the forum's composing box)

I'll have to stop using this new 'genius' bread

 

[ProfJohnL]

Lordy,
Its quite easy to start using (Mozilla) firefox or (Google) chrome, both will ask you if you want to import favourites and browser setting from your previous browser - just click yes and it should all happen like magic. If you are used to Internet Explorer you will find Firefox to be quite similar, Chrome uses a very different front end, but I find it pretty good once you have got used to its differences.

 

[Lord Braykewynde]

Thanks for that Prof.
I did download Chrome onto my laptop when away in the van. My overall impression was that I didn't like it but to be fair to Chrome I didn't give it much chance and as you say, different to I.E.
I'm not 100% sure but of late I've been using Google Maps a lot and I think that could be the cause. I'm going through my Favorites, looking at the sites and approach roads using Maps and then I'm going to print out the sites I like. Whether this is just a coincidence or not I don't know but it seems to crash/freeze whilst I'm doing this using Google Maps. Once I finish I will keep an eye on it and if it freezes without Maps I will then try Firefox. I suppose after all these years of using a browser you're familiar with it's the fear of the unknown

Another question though.
If I downloaded Firefox would I still be able to use Windows LiveMail 2011? I find this program a vast improvement to the old Outlook.

 

[ProfJohnL]

To be honest I know nothing of Livemail, so I cant answer that question.Perhaps some other computerwise person may pick and answer that one