# Weird board display **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [April 19, 2002, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-board-display/104599 "2002-04-19T23:30:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2002, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-board-display/104599/1 "2002-04-19T23:30:36Z")
In the last few days, I’ll click on a forum and get some odd looking pages. Odd in that I see letters, numbers, and pucntuation marks scattered throughout the page. Not a lot, just here and there. I’ve got a screen capture I can send if you need it. FTR, I’m using Windows Me, AOL 7.0, and IE 5.5. I do not use IE 5.5 to access the SDMB. I go to it from the AOL page. ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2002, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-board-display/104599/2 "2002-04-20T00:26:12Z")
This is the first time someone has reported that. Have you tried cleaning your monitor and/or your glasses? Also - are you sober? ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2002, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-board-display/104599/3 "2002-04-20T00:46:15Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Arnold Winkelried \* > \*\*This is the first time someone has reported that. Have you tried cleaning your monitor and/or your glasses? Also - are you sober? \*\* Hey, Smart Guy©, I gots me some proof! I can e-mail it to you. So there, nyah! ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2002, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-board-display/104599/4 "2002-04-20T15:45:21Z")
Does this happen consistently, or once in a while? Do you notice it happening more often at times when the board id slow? ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2002, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-board-display/104599/5 "2002-04-20T16:32:13Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Arnold Winkelried \* > \*\*Does this happen consistently, or once in a while? Do you notice it happening more often at times when the board id slow? \*\* Usually, I notice the board slows down after I’m in it for a few minutes. The weird display only happens then and not consistantly. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2002, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-board-display/104599/6 "2002-04-21T02:06:47Z")
Just visited [www.hometheaterforum.com](http://www.hometheaterforum.com) which uses vBulletin 2.2.5 and I’m getting the same problem. Perhaps I’m running something (I use Zone Alarm Pro) that is interfering with the way the board loads pages. ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2002, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-board-display/104599/7 "2002-04-21T15:11:26Z")
It sounds like a client issue and not a server issue, especially if it happens on another vBulletin board. The next time you see a page with an incorrect display like that, what you could do is use your browser function to display the source code of the page. If the source code doesn’t show those extraneous characters, then you should contact the maker of your browser to report the bug. If the source code does show those extraneous characters, you can e-mail the source code of the page to us (along with a link to the SDMB thread, the date/time, etc…) and we can investigate on our end. Thank you. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2002, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-board-display/104599/8 "2002-04-21T16:07:55Z")
Will do!