lin821

Not everyone reports FT technical glitches in our Technical Issues Forum.

It's not the 1st time you guys point fingers to local users when problems are clearly not local (& our tech-savvy fellow FTer even proved to you why & how).

Have I mentioned Phantom Page is an age-old issue? Yes, I did. I guess the few times FT had to rebuild from (data/server) corruption in between didn't make identify out-of-sync post/thread/page indexes any easier either.

Are you 100% positively sure the same problem thread doesn't show the same layout to those with same pagination/browser/...etc?

Has your IT Dept dug into the post/page indexes to confirm everything is definitely in sync yet? If so, why would a thread with only 1039 posts produce a Page 53 untimely when pagination was set to 20 posts? (FWIW, you won't be able to see the "problem" now because there are currently 1043 posts in said thread.)

Don't get me wrong. Having known it since 2007, I get Phantom Page is a much harder problem to crack (than the page format one). I don't envy the job IB IT has to do this time. But one thing I am certain, this isn't a local issue.

IBobi

These threads were "rebuilt" overnight -- can you let us know if you see a change?

goalie

The thread I mentioned appears to be fixed ^

jatink129

It seems to have reappeared.

Citi AA: 50k, plus other offers as they appear. [Read post #1 & follow links first]

I see a phantom page 391.
Currently the last post is #5849 on page 390.

P.S- What are "pagination" settings and how does one access them?

jatink129

I see it now on
Applying for Chase Credit Cards [Consolidated]

I see a phantom page 68. Currently the last post is #1005 on page 67.

lin821

So I take out my calculator and punch some numbers....
For a setting of 15 posts per page, if there's no post#5851, there shouldn't be Page 391.

In this case, Page 67 should only start with post#1006.

I guess both threads are still out of sync.

Bobster

Do you log in when reading messages?

I have this issue at another forum, but I do not log in there and here I always log in, so that is different.

Silver Fox

I always log in. It is happening for me in this thread now:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/unite...013-a-163.html

Last page shows as 164.

lin821

It's not a login issue, so login or not shouldn't make any different as far as "phantom page phenomenon" is concerned.

FWIW, I see the same problem with and without login.

15 (posts)* 163 (page) = 2445

The last post I am reading now is #2422 by jackal, meaning Phantom Page 164 is 4 posts too early (aka not until #2446) for said thread.

Bobster

So you must have "Use Forum Default" as the number of posts per page.

I use 40 as the number of posts per page. I never see this problem.

Why not try changing the posts per page to fix the problem?

On that thread you complain about, it indicates 64 pages and I can view the last page fine.

jatink129

Maybe it's just me...but I find having to scroll and scroll and scroll to get to the bottom of the 40 posts/page, to be a PITA.

So I've just left it at default, which is something I'm used to...and rather than having to change our settings, the programmers should fix the problem. Ofcourse, on the grand scale of things, this problem is minuscule. But I'd still like to get it fixed.

Bobster

Why not try 20 per page then?

Based on my experience with the other forum, it might simply be leaving it at default that causes the problem, as opposed to any other setting.

Also based on my experience at the other forum, this is an issue that has existed for a long time without being fixed, so finding a workaround yourself might solve it faster than waiting for someone else to fix it.

goalie

And here's another one..... lists 38 pages but clicking on page 38 returns to page 37

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/unite...update-37.html

lin821

Have you read beltway's posts? He's not on "Use Forum Default" and he does encounter this problem with more than one thread he followed.

Because pagination is not the root of the problem, changing it won't fix the problem.

Your normal view is because there are enough posts to fill the pages by the time you visit said thread. When the "phantom threshold" is reached, the problem will be "masked" until the next cycle.

It doesn't work, at least not for beltway, so 20 is not the answer either.

No argument for the above statement since I've reported this problem to admin since 2007 on FT. No need to go to other websites and compare their issues since on FT, we got plenty of examples ourselves.

When the issues are from the "blackholes" or whatever is out of sync in the system, I doubt the users can fix it for the system or admin. At least changing the pagination on FT isn't the solution. Users just "float" the phantom pages on different post/page schedule, i.e. moving from every 15s to 20s or 40s (posts). The problem is still there.

Since it's not happening to every thread on FT (yes another grand mystery that stumps all of us), maybe you just haven't laid eyes on the "right" problem threads? I don't doubt with pagination of 40, you are supposed to see it less frequently (close to less than 1/3) than those of us on forum default of 15.

What about a challenge with the math with regard to post/page indexes I've been doing? And let's just use one of beltway's example threads:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/miles...5k-benies.html

Currently, that thread has 2942 posts:

40 (post) * 74 (page) = 2960

In your 40 posts per page, you should only see Page 74 right now. Not until Post #2961 is made, you shouldn't be seeing Page 75.

I bet you will see the same phantom page, aka Page 75, in said thread when either Post #2959 or #2960 is made. I don't know when someone will make post#2959 or #2960. As long as admin hasn't fixed the phantom page problem, you definitely will see Page 75 before it's time. Just keep an eye on that thread and report back your experience, deal?

lin821

That thread has 1475 posts right now. So there shouldn't be page 38 (a.k.a. not until post#1481), assuming you're on pagination of 40:

40 (post) * 37 (page)= 1480

Phantom Page 38 has been generated (at least) 6 posts too early for the above thread.