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SITE NEWS: "Style Breakdown" on Long Discussion Threads

Do you ever have a problem on FO articles with long discussion threads where the page "style" seems to break down around 100 comments, leading to the colors being all wrong and later comments sometimes being unreadable? If you have similar problems, please comment here and let us know what browser you use. In addition, if you have a screenshot, please send that to us via e-mail at mailbag-at-footballoutsiders.com. We want to see if this is a common problem, and if so, we want to fix it.

Comments

1
by sundown (not verified) :: Mon, 02/04/2013 - 7:39pm

Haven't seen that formatting issue lately, but today I've gotten a malware warning related to one of your advertisers several times using Chrome. Not cool. You'll want to address that.

7
by bhauck :: Mon, 02/04/2013 - 9:13pm

I started getting this on every site last night, including one that runs no ads or other outside code (confirmed with creator on twitter). This is a Chrome problem, not a FO problem.

10
by Aaron Schatz :: Mon, 02/04/2013 - 9:42pm

Here's a link about the strange Chrome problem people are having.

http://www.mercurynews.com/business/ci_22515730/malware-warning-citing-n...

31
by bhauck :: Tue, 02/05/2013 - 2:04pm

That's weird, but that's not the same problem I was having. Different site was coming up as the problem "qcksvr.com" or "qckslvr.com," and it wasn't ad-mediated because it happened at a site without ads. But it's been gone since I got home from work yesterday.

2
by Insancipitory :: Mon, 02/04/2013 - 7:52pm

the page spilling at 300 comments making it more difficult to tell which comments are new and follow every conversation.

5
by JIPanick :: Mon, 02/04/2013 - 8:20pm

I have this same problem. Chrome and Firefox both.

6
by Hurt Bones :: Mon, 02/04/2013 - 8:50pm

This. It's been this way for ages. Once the page spills over every comment on the second page shows as old. I use Firefox. When a discussion hits the spill over, I stop checking anymore.

11
by Aaron Schatz :: Mon, 02/04/2013 - 9:44pm

Sorry, please explain what you mean by "page spills over at 300 comments?"

I assume this is different from the problem with the style that I reference above and that someone linked a picture of below?

13
by Jerry :: Mon, 02/04/2013 - 10:00pm

When a thread goes over 300 comments, the first 300 appear on the page, and little "previous" and "next" buttons appear beneath the 300th. They'll take you to the 301st and beyond, or back, but it resets the "new posts" flag so posts that you haven't read don't come up in yellow. When you're trying to read six new posts, three of which appear in yellow as replies on the first page, and three that don't appear in yellow when you go to the next page, it can be frustrating.

15
by Hurt Bones :: Mon, 02/04/2013 - 10:08pm

Exactly.

17
by Big-Hairy-Andy :: Mon, 02/04/2013 - 10:21pm

I thought the site owners already knew about this. It can get really frustrating, particularly because threads that long usually contain a long of good discussion.

This is the major bugbear I was referring to in the site feedback I submitted with my awards ballot.

14
by Insancipitory :: Mon, 02/04/2013 - 10:03pm

When a discussion reaches 300 comments, new additions to it "spill" over onto a new page. But the comments in the discussion are threaded, and loading any page of the discussion marks all unread comments in the discussion as read whether or not they were on a page of a discussion selected for display, making it more difficult to follow every thread of interest in a discussion.

It's somewhat of a difficult problem, and spilling onto new pages is a reasonable way to deal with it, but the losing of one's place is inconvienent. This "complaint" is different from the original topic of discussion. The picture linked below in comment #9 appears to be one of a style not rendering completely, leaving off the white background making the text nearly impossible to read.

3
by commissionerleaf :: Mon, 02/04/2013 - 7:55pm

I have had this problem ever since the last big site redesign. I use Firefox.

It occurs on multiple computers.

The problem results from a failure of one fo the layers, resulting in green and black text on a green background which is difficult or impossible to read.

21
by cisforcookie (not verified) :: Mon, 02/04/2013 - 10:40pm

this. firefox

23
by Jerry F. (not verified) :: Tue, 02/05/2013 - 12:26am

Same here.

24
by James-London :: Tue, 02/05/2013 - 6:01am

Me too. Firefox user

Phil Simms is a Cretin.

36
by makerowner (not verified) :: Tue, 02/05/2013 - 6:31pm

Same, Firefox. I haven't had this problem on Chrome at work.

25
by Dan :: Tue, 02/05/2013 - 7:35am

I have this problem in Firefox, and have for awhile. The text becomes readable if I highlight it, but it's ugly.

26
by MC2 :: Tue, 02/05/2013 - 8:06am

I get the same thing with Firefox. If I really want to read the rest of the thread, I just reopen the page in Internet Explorer.

27
by Mike B. In Va :: Tue, 02/05/2013 - 9:16am

Same here. Firefox and Chrome, and Silk on the Kindle Fire.

30
by tshanku :: Tue, 02/05/2013 - 1:04pm

Has happened to me, but only in Firefox. That's why I read FO now on Chrome. Have not tried Silk (I don't have Kindle Fire), or Safari, or Dolphin.

34
by Kevin from Philly :: Tue, 02/05/2013 - 5:53pm

I've had no problems with Safari on my iPhone.

4
by andrew :: Mon, 02/04/2013 - 8:17pm

If you guys added a tapatalk plugin all this would be irrelevent to me. I rarely use forums from a PC anymore...

12
by Aaron Schatz :: Mon, 02/04/2013 - 9:44pm

I have no idea what that is. We can look into it. Is that something a lot of people use?

18
by NHPatsfan (not verified) :: Mon, 02/04/2013 - 10:30pm

It's an a smartphone / tablet app (not sure if just iPhone) for reading forums. I've gotten a pop up push for it on other sites when using an iPad.

19
by DisplacedPackerFan :: Mon, 02/04/2013 - 10:31pm

It's available on Android too.

28
by andrew :: Tue, 02/05/2013 - 11:18am

It is an app geared to viewing forums on a smartphone or tablet. It is far superior to trying to do the same via a browser on such a device.

There are two pieces to it, an app that users use, and an end that installs into the forums to support it on the other end. There are already configured versions for a number of popular forum systems like phpbb. If the FO forums are custom-made, there is an API to add support, but that would obviously take some work. The entire thing is free to the forum owner... to a point. The end users have to buy the client, though there is iirc a "trial version". Also, there are third party apps that are free that work with it as well (including a windows phone one).

There might be some concerns on how your ads work or require routing them a little differently, not sure on the details, though there is a FAQ that hopefully makes all that clear. (and to be clear I have no stake in this app or that company other than as an end user).

They do have a paid version of the forum plugin that basically lets you bundle the client as your own app, so that users use that, instead of the generic tapatalk app (i.e., a "FO app"), and you could either sell that or make it available as needed (this one does have a fee).

All else aside, I think a FO app (and for more than just forums) would be a splendid idea, I'd happily pay to install something that provided a handy mobile access to FO stats (and would be handy for premium as well). I generally don't watch games with a PC or even lap top in front of me, I typically watch with a kindle fire in hand, with an IRC client I use to go to chat about the game on (which I'll admit has replaced posting on the boards during games for me). Even if my autocorrect seems possessed by the spirit of Raider Joe...

8
by DEW (not verified) :: Mon, 02/04/2013 - 9:40pm

I've had this problem using Firefox as well, on both Windows and Mac computers.

9
by Jerry :: Mon, 02/04/2013 - 9:41pm

This happens in Firefox:

http://imgur.com/AVc2Wsm

Stuff above has readable white background, but it breaks down at some point. I also agree with the above complaint about (rare) 300+ post threads.

16
by Big-Hairy-Andy :: Mon, 02/04/2013 - 10:17pm

I get that all the time here, mainly using Chrome on Windows/Chromium on Linux, but it's not related to the length of the thread. What happens is sometimes the page never finishes loading, so the white formatting never comes in and often a bunch of the comments are also cut off from the bottom of the page. That kind of incomplete page load only ever happens to me on this site.

20
by DisplacedPackerFan :: Mon, 02/04/2013 - 10:34pm

I've had this happen with both Firefox and Chrome on Windows boxes, though it hasn't happened in a while so I have no screen shots currently (I'll get one the next time I run into).

I just end up highlight all the text so I can still read it or try a different browser, if it's a topic I care about.

Note that when I say it can happen on both browsers it's not always the same thread. As I mentioned sometimes I can just open Chrome (or Firefox) and the thread is fine, but I'll run into a broken one in that browser, but swapping back to the other one it's fine.

I tried to diagnose a rhyme or reason for it once but didn't come up with anything consistent.

22
by Noah of Arkadia :: Mon, 02/04/2013 - 11:50pm

Oh, that? Yeah, I recall seeing it before, but not sure exactly when. Not recently, I think. Firefox here.

------
FO posters are a peacock. You got to let us fly!

32
by Mikey Benny :: Tue, 02/05/2013 - 2:38pm

Why not use reddit's system? Reddit's code is open source, free to be used in any web site, and can be customized to restrict creation of new posts to certain groups of users. It also would help ensure discussion quality stays high.

29
by Paul R :: Tue, 02/05/2013 - 12:20pm

Whew! That's a relief. I thought I was just drunk.

33
by Arkaein :: Tue, 02/05/2013 - 5:06pm

It happened on Firefox on XP for me. Don't think I've seen it since my work machine has been upgraded to Windows 7.

I use Firefox on Linux at home, and I don't think I ever saw it there.

However I've reported this before, several months ago, and my report then probably had more detail.

35
by Kevin from Philly :: Tue, 02/05/2013 - 5:57pm

When do we get to a technical discussion of a REAL problem? Of course, I'm speaking of Raider Joe's spell checker.

37
by Theo :: Tue, 02/05/2013 - 7:21pm

just install the RJ trandloiner for forefox or vrome.

38
by Hurt Bones :: Tue, 02/05/2013 - 7:35pm

It's tree and opel soirce.

39
by buzzorhowl (not verified) :: Tue, 02/05/2013 - 10:32pm

Definitely happens to me, just as Jerry in comment #9 described above. I use Firefox.

40
by Aaron Schatz :: Tue, 02/05/2013 - 11:44pm

Hey everyone.

We think we've figured out what causes the problem. Unfortunately, we can't fix it until we do the whole site upgrade this offseason, but it will all be fixed by July.

41
by Reinhard (not verified) :: Wed, 02/06/2013 - 12:08pm

The only problem I have is when I load your articles sometimes its so slooowwww that the whole thing shows up as just a green background for a while, or gets stuck at that stage.

If somehow you could load the green background LAST then I could at least start reading the text while the page loads (or fails to load...)

42
by The Hypno-Toad :: Thu, 02/07/2013 - 9:44pm

I pretty much only run into Reinhard's problem on Open Discussion threads and other things that go crazy with the comments... So I think the hang comes from the comments rather than the background.

43
by Jerry :: Fri, 02/08/2013 - 12:14am

On dial-up (yeah, I know) it can happen anytime, including pre-comments. The idea that loading a white background earlier would make readers' lives easier makes sense.

44
by The Hypno-Toad :: Fri, 02/08/2013 - 10:04pm

http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2000/1/26/

If this somehow offends the dial-up users, I'm sorry, but this comic was the first thing I thought of when I read Jerry's comment.

45
by ammek :: Sat, 02/09/2013 - 12:28pm

I'm seeing an extra set of numbers in the SCHED RANK column of the Team Defense page.

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