Phantom Pages
 

Will you please do something about the phantom pages plaguing this site?

Agreed, all those extra seconds realising that there isn't any next page all add up to enough time that could be used for better purposes.


SHJ

Also agree.

It really is a dismal performance that has been going on for far too long.

I don't seem to have this problem. What do phantom pages look like? (I know that seems a silly question but since you have asked to have something done about them, I assume they must be visible to some people).

Sunnyjohn if you are following a thread you will regularly be using 'last page' or 'go to last post'. If you are then told that you are on the second to last page, the natural reaction is to look at the last one, but that just returns you to the first post on the one you are already on.

This can be mildly irritating (me) or absolutely infuriating (others not so laid-back)

Sunnyjohn.

On the Sir Jimmy Saville thread, there are 69 pages, but if you click on 69, you end up back on 68,

That happened to me a couple of times with the ex.....:uhoh:


SHJ

68 was generally described as "you eat me, and I'll owe you one." :eek:

@Lonewolf: :D :D :D

Ahhhh, so the mods might well be wholiganly responsible, ghostly forms they resemble here sometimes...?! :uhoh: :)

Nope. I am told that the "fix" is for IB to run a scheduled task to correct the database, and nothing to do with deleted posts.

However, IB is probably only just getting in to work, so we'll have to wait to see what they can do.

Thanks Wholi, couldn't ask for more.

Repeated complaints by others though appear to have had little effect so I won't be holding my breathe,

And the advert for a Pilot's Atlas is too big, I imagine, because when it pops up, all the thread titles get smaller (or at least for me they do).

I thought a pilot's atlas was called a navigator anyway.

The Phantom Page syndrome is an inbuilt problem with the vBulletin forum programme, and it requires a regular database cleanup to correct it.
The webmaster has to be on the ball, when it starts to happen.
I'm not sure that it requires screaming in 28pt bold, though - I always thought Lon More had a pretty good sense of humour.
It must have deserted him for one frustrating moment. Computers that constantly say 'no', can do that to you. :)

The Bristow pictures thread currently has 2 ghost pages and has had at least one for a long while now.

Thanks SSK and uffington. I just assumed it was a vagary of Pprune but it doesn't seem to worry me. Should I be worried about that?

Alternatively you may be on the penultimate page and notice that another page number is shown but assume that it is a phantom, only to find after you posted that it did actually exist and you have used the last letters of the wrong word to start your excruciatingly funny next word. :{

I use to enjoy finding hidden pages on web sites (nothing on here) best entertainment was entering page numbers (non screen display page numbers) on the old BBC ceefax. Found some interesting ones where the Gov/BBC updated any security threats as to BBC broadcasting studios, and a page for UK updates to the security services. Bet the Russians never sussed that.

Alas it's all BBC red button now. If I don't post again in a few days:{

Response received:

So it seems that probably the most effective way to deal with the phantom pages is to post something, as you have been doing, and live with it.

Thanks again, Wholi.

are any other sites affected I wonder?

AV Forums had so many problems with VBulletin they dumped it altogether recently.

A small update. It seems that the above explanation may not be entirely accurate and that there may indeed be some posts that are on the next page.

Could I please ask you all to do something for me to check what they are telling me?

If you see a phantom page, then before you post a reply could you please make note of the last post number and the post content on the last page visible. Then when you have posted please note if there are other posts already on the new page.

Not sure if that will help them but it would help me.

Many thanks.

Wholigan wrote:

i read this before my first coffee. After the second sentence my brains exploded all over my LCD, due to incomprehension. Thanks Wholigan! :ok:

Got you awake though eh? :E;)

I'll post this again from the previous thread on this topic:ugh:

IF YOU SELECT 'POST REPLY' YOU WILL NORMALLY BE ABLE TO READ ALL THE 'MISSING' POSTS

Note to IB: The posts are normally 'there' and it is thought to be the usual heavy-handed, often quirky, moderation and deletion of posts that causes the problem with the database. I believe it was claimed it would be sorted on the next db run.

Hi all,

Thanks for reporting this issue. I had thought that the "phantom" pages were actually just a pagination error, and there were no posts that could not be seen -- just a page number that had no posts, that could not be reached.

For instance, in the Saville thread mentioned earlier, I see page 69, it has 2 posts on it (since my posts per page is set to default -- 20), the last post being #1362 by vulcanised

http://www.pprune.org/jet-blast/4676...my-savile.html

If you are saying that you know there are posts that you can't see, I'll need to reproduce that so tech can fix it. Please post links to any threads you're seeing this issue with.

Thank you

Is this still happening? Tech have run the cleanup script for this.

I was on the Bristow photos thread earleir and there was a ghost link that returned to the current page I was on.

Had one on TRABB yesterday

We are currently one post in arrears on Last Two Letters, the phantom page turns up on the penultimate post. But please don't fix it, we use it to add to the humor of the game. (US spelling of humour intentional)

We are currently one post in arrears on Last Two Letters, the phantom page turns up on the penultimate post.

Hmm. I'm not able to replicate any of these. This thread:

http://www.pprune.org/jet-blast/4710...-word-529.html

...lets me go to page 529 (the past page for me, at 20 posts/page), final post being Henry Crun's Erdinger-Dunkel photo at timestamp 14th Feb 2014, 10:54.

No?

At this time the "Jimmy Savile" thread has 1393 posts, but is showing a "ghost" page.

ie. seven posts before it should show a new page.

Good luck sorting this.

http://www.pprune.org/jet-blast/4676...savile-70.html

I show latest post #1393 timestamped 14th Feb 2014, 13:33 by SpringHeeledJack

Page 70 for me, (20 posts/page), no phantom.

Dunno. What could possibly be SO annoying about it? You click on the last one, appears it isn't, you know it's the phantom, so...? Wonders someone who's really picky about the No of clicks needed and speed also. :uhoh:

I have seen similar behavior from other VB sites and assumed it was the same, i.e. phantom pages but no actual additional posts (so nobody is really missing anything, it's just a pagination error). In that case, we'd just live with it, because as you say, no big deal.

But some members have reported that there are in fact posts that have been made on the phantom pages that can't be seen (how they would know that is still not clear to me...), so I'm continuing to investigate.

http://www.llondel.org/jpgs/jb-phantom.png

This is what I currently see in the Jimmy Savile thread. Clearly another post has been added from the previous 1393 and then there's a link for a page 71.

Possibly admin accounts see something cleaner than non-admin accounts?

Ibobi, another observation which I hope may help.

Jimmy Savile thread again at this time stands at 1395 on page 70, with a link to page 71 as shown in llondel's post above.

Jet Blast Main Menu (currently page 2) shows "Sir Jimmy Savile" thread as having 1402 replies. Clicking on "1402" brings up the "who has posted" window which correctly shows 1395 posts, so clearly there are two counters involved, one of which has lost it's way.

I've checked under two O/Ss in case this was all the result of Windoze, but got the same result with both.

I agree with earlier posters the "phantom" page issue is a very minor inconvenience to us as users, and indeed has been the source of some lighthearted fun in the TRABB thread, but I once did a job somewhat similar to yours and can remember how irritating niggles like this could be. :ok:

Phantom page reports
 

IBobi asked us to report phantom pages but I can't find the thread - so here's a new one.

Aircrew - Rotor heads - Police helicopter:
Phantom page 118 currently showing.

Social - Jet Blast - Last two letters:
We love phantom page jokes, please don't fix :p

aren't the phantom pages just the pprune software preparing a new template for continuation of posts ?