Sorry, but there are currently no threads

For me at least, the forum seems to be having serious problems. When I try to browse the forum, most of the time the forums appear empty, and I get this message everywhere I look:

Sorry, but there are currently no threads in this forum with the specified date and time limiting options.

For example, I try to browse the Member Introductions and Personal Experiences and though I see sub forum, they too are empty.

See this, possibly the most boring video ever made. Its less than two minutes though, so no popcorn needed.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/9eout1hrcrtukj...s.mp4?dl=0

Help, please - anyone!

Two comments here.

1. the forum as presented to the outside world, those who are not logged-in, is richer and more fulfilling that the meagre and minimalist view which members see when logged in.

2.  Years ago, I was running a website on behalf of a local social club. I had some code which presented a list of forthcoming dates of our weekly gathering, and a description of what was planned for that date. I arranged it so that the top of the list was the current meeting, either today or the next in the near future. Any events in the past were by default hidden. But the interesting part was I added a button to view the past history. All very nice. But when eventually the list of future or current events was empty, not only was nothing displayed, but also - the button to view the past history also disappeared.

That latter was my own hand-crafted code, it had nothing in common with the software in this forum. Except, it seems here too, the ability to view past history has disappeared too, in a very similar manner. Maybe under the bonnet there is a similar sort of logic taking place.

Actually, The purpose of the two sites was very different. There is no reason, from a user-perspective why past history of the forum posts should by default be hidden. That is something which I've always found problematic here. Possibly it was an attempt to reduce server load?

In the case of my own website, a solution was never implemented, the website was abandoned. I hope the same fate does not befall Psience Quest.

[Laird]

[Last post deleted and this post edited to reflect the actual solution, and to skip mistaken possibilities]

It seems that somehow, in your UserCP options, under "Forum Display Options", your "Default Thread View:" setting has been changed to "Show threads from last day", in which case, changing it back to "Use Default" should solve the problem. I've checked the value of this setting against you in the database and have confirmed that it is set to integer 1, which indeed corresponds to "Show threads from the last day", so I'm very confident that this is the problem.

Thanks Laird, that may help.

If so, the next question is, how did it get changed? The issue which I described only just started happening a few days

In the past, at the very least, there was always an option to choose a different date range. I suspect a recent forum software update may have changed something else, to remove the option to choose the range during browsing. A bit like removing the controls from a car, it makes things awkward, to say the least. Perhaps another mystery which will never be solved.

At any rate, your suggestion helped, but I don't think it was what triggered this event, but only set the scenario for something else to take place. In other words a combination of my settings (perhaps) together with a forum software update - maybe.

[Laird]

If so, the next question is, how did it get changed?

It's a good question. I don't know the answer.

In the past, at the very least, there was always an option to choose a different date range.

Yes, those Sort By, Order, and From dropdown boxes are still there, unless the above-mentioned UCP setting results in no threads being returned, in which case they don't appear - presumably because no matter what value the From dropdown was set to, results wouldn't be returned anyway given the value of the UCP setting. I've made a note to bring this up with the other MyBB devs at some point to see whether they think those dropdowns should even in that case be present, and able to override the UCP setting, which is, after all, labelled only as a "Default" view, and not the definitive one.

In other words a combination of my settings (perhaps) together with a forum software update - maybe.

At this point, I have no better guess, and it does seem to have happened around the time of a software update. I can't see any reference to the option in the upgrade scripts though, so it's a bit of a puzzle.

It's a good question. I don't know the answer.

I suspect that I changed the setting myself, years ago, and it has never been a problem until very recently. I know there was some other issue a while ago which  was an  undesirable consequence of one of my own choices. Sometimes we may change a setting with a view to trying it to see whether it is better or worse, but the impact may not be apparent until much later.

Yes, those Sort By, Order, and From dropdown boxes are still there, unless the above-mentioned UCP setting results in no threads being returned, in which case they don't appear - presumably because no matter what value the From dropdown was set to, results wouldn't be returned anyway given the value of the UCP setting.

I don't think that argument stands up, in the sense that the dropdown list does give the option to change the date range. But if the dropdown does not appear, then there is no way to make use of that ability...

I've made a note to bring this up with the other MyBB devs at some point to see whether they think those dropdowns should even in that case be present, and able to override the UCP setting, which is, after all, labelled only as a "Default" view, and not the definitive one.

.. and it seems you're tending to agree here.

In fact if I now (with my now modified UCP setting) browse the forums (such as member introductions), I see a list of threads. If I change the "from" setting to "today", the drop-down list then instantly disappears, the only way to get it back is to exit that forum and then re-enter it, which is not a correct or desirable behaviour for the user interface.
   

At this point, I have no better guess, and it does seem to have happened around the time of a software update. I can't see any reference to the option in the upgrade scripts though, so it's a bit of a puzzle.

Well, I can't pin down the exact date when the problem began. Obviously it only came to my attention this week, but it may have occurred a little while ago - though not too long as I frequently use the forums.

It may not appear in any obvious reference as it could be a combination of several factors interacting (I've not looked at the code). For example some innocuous change made on one date, and some other innocuous change made on another date, neither of which would raise any eyebrows on their own, but together may have a big impact.

I'll add that I was originally very upset and disturbed by this, it wasn't just some minor inconvenience, it looked to me as though the whole forum was broken. No-one else apart from yourself replied to either confirm or deny that.

[Laird]

.. and it seems you're tending to agree here.

Yes.

I'll add that I was originally very upset and disturbed by this, it wasn't just some minor inconvenience, it looked to me as though the whole forum was broken. No-one else apart from yourself replied to either confirm or deny that.

I'm sorry that in this sense my response wasn't as timely and considerate as it could have been. I did get a bit of a sense of your upset, and ought to have responded more thoughtfully, perhaps even privately at first.

Yes.


I'm sorry that in this sense my response wasn't as timely and considerate as it could have been. I did get a bit of a sense of your upset, and ought to have responded more thoughtfully, perhaps even privately at first.

Sorry Laird, I wasn't aiming that at you in particular, I'd hoped for some feedback from anyone.

By the way, I edited my previous post and inserted the following paragraph:

In fact if I now (with my now modified UCP setting) browse the forums (such as member introductions), I see a list of threads. If I change the "from" setting to "today", the drop-down list then instantly disappears, the only way to get it back is to exit that forum and then re-enter it, which is not a correct or desirable behaviour for the user interface.

[Laird]

By the way, I edited my previous post and inserted the following paragraph:

In fact if I now (with my now modified UCP setting) browse the forums (such as member introductions), I see a list of threads. If I change the "from" setting to "today", the drop-down list then instantly disappears, the only way to get it back is to exit that forum and then re-enter it, which is not a correct or desirable behaviour for the user interface.

Re this, I am close to 100% convinced that I saw a recent issue/PR about this on MyBB's GitHub repository, or maybe in its Community Forums' 1.8 Bugs and Issues forum, but I don't seem to be able to locate it any more. Hopefully, in any case, it will in due course be fixed. If I come across it again, I hope I remember to link to it here.