# Blank Straight Dope Chicago page **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [July 2, 2010, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blank-straight-dope-chicago-page/545333 "2010-07-02T19:16:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![LurkMeister](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3da27b/32.png) [@LurkMeister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LurkMeister)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2010, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blank-straight-dope-chicago-page/545333/1 "2010-07-02T19:16:32Z")
I’m not sure if this is the right place for this, but it doesn’t seem to fit anywhere else, so here goes: For some time now, whenever I try to go to the Straight Dope Chicago Home Page ([chicago.straightdope.com](http://chicago.straightdope.com)) all I get is a blank page. I don’t get an error message of any sort; my browser (Firefox 3.6.6) shows “Done” on the status line, as if it thinks that it has finished loading the page. I first noticed this when I tried to follow a link on the Straight Dope Home Page to part two of the Paulina Street column. At the time I thought it was just a temporary problem, but it’s persisted no matter how I try to get there. If memory serves, it started at about the same time that the forums were rearranged to merge all the Chicago forums into a single forum, if that’s relevant. Also, if it matters, I’m using Windows XP. Any suggestions are welcome. ---
**Author:** ![Ed\_Zotti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/fbc32d/32.png) [@Ed\_Zotti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ed_Zotti)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2010, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blank-straight-dope-chicago-page/545333/2 "2010-07-02T19:40:38Z")
Hm, works OK in Firefox 3.6.4. Questions: 1. I’m not clear on the problem. You can’t get to the SDC homepage, or you can’t get from the SDC home page to Paulina Street Journal? 2. Do you have an ad blocker installed? 3. Are you following a link to get to SDC? If so, from where? Just to test, here’s a link to the home page: [http://chicago.straightdope.com/index.php](http://chicago.straightdope.com/index.php) … and to the current column: [http://chicago.straightdope.com/sdc20100701.php](http://chicago.straightdope.com/sdc20100701.php) Do these come up blank for you? ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2010, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blank-straight-dope-chicago-page/545333/3 "2010-07-02T19:41:58Z")
I’m getting blank pages on both. Ver.3.6.6 Firefox ---
**Author:** ![Ed\_Zotti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/fbc32d/32.png) [@Ed\_Zotti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ed_Zotti)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2010, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blank-straight-dope-chicago-page/545333/4 "2010-07-02T19:53:19Z")
If you view the page source, what do you see? Trying to establish if this is something in the HTML, although so far as I know I haven’t changed anything that would affect the display of the page. ---
**Author:** ![MsWhatsit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb8c5e/32.png) [@MsWhatsit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsWhatsit)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2010, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blank-straight-dope-chicago-page/545333/5 "2010-07-02T20:01:37Z")
It’s Ad-Block Plus. I mentioned this in a different thread a week or two ago, and someone suggested turning off ABP. I did, and the page loaded fine. I hope this is fixed soon, as most people are going to assume the page is simply broken (which, frankly, it is) and not that they need to disable their adblockers in order to view it. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2010, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blank-straight-dope-chicago-page/545333/6 "2010-07-02T20:03:41Z")
> [@MsWhatsit](#): > > It’s Ad-Block Plus. I mentioned this in a different thread a week or two ago, and someone suggested turning off ABP. I did, and the page loaded fine. > > I hope this is fixed soon, as most people are going to assume the page is simply broken (which, frankly, it is) and not that they need to disable their adblockers in order to view it. Yup, that’s it. I installed Ad-Block Plus two days ago. ---
**Author:** ![Ed\_Zotti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/fbc32d/32.png) [@Ed\_Zotti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ed_Zotti)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2010, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blank-straight-dope-chicago-page/545333/7 "2010-07-02T20:06:05Z")
> [@MsWhatsit](#): > > I hope this is fixed soon, as most people are going to assume the page is simply broken (which, frankly, it is) and not that they need to disable their adblockers in order to view it. What on the page is broken, other than the fact that it has ads? ---
**Author:** ![Anonymous\_Coward](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/94ad74/32.png) [@Anonymous\_Coward](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anonymous_Coward)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2010, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blank-straight-dope-chicago-page/545333/8 "2010-07-02T20:07:03Z")
Looks like it’s AdBlock Plus add-on for Firefox that’s causing the blank screens. If I disable blocking of the “###header\_ads” blockable item in ABP then the screen loads promptly. ---
**Author:** ![MsWhatsit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb8c5e/32.png) [@MsWhatsit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsWhatsit)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2010, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blank-straight-dope-chicago-page/545333/9 "2010-07-02T20:13:01Z")
> [@Ed\_Zotti](#): > > What on the page is broken, other than the fact that it has ads? Er…well, it’s displaying as a totally blank page for anyone with adblock software installed. Doesn’t that mean that something is broken somewhere? ---
**Author:** ![Ed\_Zotti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/fbc32d/32.png) [@Ed\_Zotti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ed_Zotti)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2010, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blank-straight-dope-chicago-page/545333/10 "2010-07-02T20:28:51Z")
> [@MsWhatsit](#): > > Er…well, it’s displaying as a totally blank page for anyone with adblock software installed. Doesn’t that mean that something is broken somewhere? Do me a favor. Click on the SDC home page link above with your ad blocker enabled and see what happens. Think a /div tag might have been missing. ---
**Author:** ![MsWhatsit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb8c5e/32.png) [@MsWhatsit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsWhatsit)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2010, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blank-straight-dope-chicago-page/545333/11 "2010-07-02T20:31:14Z")
> [@Ed\_Zotti](#): > > Do me a favor. Click on the SDC home page link above with your ad blocker enabled and see what happens. Think a /div tag might have been missing. Fixed! Most excellent. Thanks, Ed. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2010, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blank-straight-dope-chicago-page/545333/12 "2010-07-02T20:33:05Z")
First link fine, second link still blank for me. ---
**Author:** ![LurkMeister](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3da27b/32.png) [@LurkMeister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LurkMeister)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2010, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blank-straight-dope-chicago-page/545333/13 "2010-07-02T20:35:10Z")
I tried the SDC homepage link with ad blocker enabled and got what appears to be a full page, which color illustration of current and proposed north side L service. The link to the current column still comes up blank, though. ---
**Author:** ![Ed\_Zotti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/fbc32d/32.png) [@Ed\_Zotti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ed_Zotti)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2010, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blank-straight-dope-chicago-page/545333/14 "2010-07-02T20:38:40Z")
> [@LurkMeister](#): > > I tried the SDC homepage link with ad blocker enabled and got what appears to be a full page, which color illustration of current and proposed north side L service. The link to the current column still comes up blank, though. Added a missing /div tag. Try it again. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2010, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blank-straight-dope-chicago-page/545333/15 "2010-07-02T20:41:10Z")
Both work fine and/or dandy. Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![LurkMeister](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3da27b/32.png) [@LurkMeister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LurkMeister)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2010, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blank-straight-dope-chicago-page/545333/16 "2010-07-02T20:42:04Z")
All fixed. Thank you very much. I was starting to think that it was something wrong with my computer, since no one else was reporting any problems. And considering how quick some people are to report things that bother them… ---
**Author:** ![Ed\_Zotti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/fbc32d/32.png) [@Ed\_Zotti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ed_Zotti)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2010, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blank-straight-dope-chicago-page/545333/17 "2010-07-02T20:44:31Z")
Wish all problems could be solved this easily. ---
**Author:** ![LurkMeister](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3da27b/32.png) [@LurkMeister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LurkMeister)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2010, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blank-straight-dope-chicago-page/545333/18 "2010-07-02T20:47:18Z")
Point of information - the links on the SDC Home page to past columns and the Paulina Street Journal still come up blank. I’m assuming whatever you did to fix the current column will need to be done with them too. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2010, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blank-straight-dope-chicago-page/545333/19 "2010-07-02T20:58:21Z")
Also, when my son asked me if I knew the capitol of South Carolina, my mind came up blank. Could you fix that too? ---
**Author:** ![Ed\_Zotti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/fbc32d/32.png) [@Ed\_Zotti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ed_Zotti)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2010, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blank-straight-dope-chicago-page/545333/20 "2010-07-02T21:04:33Z")
Yes, unlike the main column archive, which is generated dynamically from a database - meaning if there’s an error you just fix a single page template - SDC uses static pages that have to be corrected individually, a major PITA. I’m lobbying the honchos to give me the wherewithal for a major site revamp, which will include putting the SDC archive into a database. In the meantime, tell you what, I’ll go back and fix all the SDC pages from the first of this year. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blank-straight-dope-chicago-page/545333.md?page=2)