# Why wouldn't I be able to see a poster's profile? **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [September 28, 2021, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wouldnt-i-be-able-to-see-a-posters-profile/951540 "2021-09-28T19:42:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![mordecaiB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mordecaib/32/7725_2.png) [@mordecaiB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mordecaiB)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2021, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wouldnt-i-be-able-to-see-a-posters-profile/951540/1 "2021-09-28T19:42:02Z")
Thought I just saw something on this but I couldn’t find it. I’m not talking about the card that says “User Profile Hidden”, I’m talking about no card at all when you click the user name. Actually, you can see it start to pop up but it disappears before it becomes readable. Almost like it was ad-blocked at the last second. ---
**Author:** ![GreysonCarlisle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a87d85/32.png) [@GreysonCarlisle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreysonCarlisle)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2021, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wouldnt-i-be-able-to-see-a-posters-profile/951540/2 "2021-09-28T19:48:03Z")
Was it someone who was recently banned/suspended? ETA: We semi-discussed that same thing [here](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-is-there-a-bottom-line-to-all-these-sovereign-citizen-cases-thread-closed/950973/33). ---
**Author:** ![mordecaiB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mordecaib/32/7725_2.png) [@mordecaiB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mordecaiB)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2021, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wouldnt-i-be-able-to-see-a-posters-profile/951540/3 "2021-09-28T19:50:40Z")
Not as far as I know. It’s [this](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-respond-to-someone-asking-this-question/950348) guy. ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2021, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wouldnt-i-be-able-to-see-a-posters-profile/951540/4 "2021-09-28T19:51:02Z")
> [@mordecaiB](#): > > Almost like it was ad-blocked at the last second. Is it possible that you accidentally ad-blocked some element here? It’s easy to accidentally do with some ad-blockers and browsers. ---
**Author:** ![mordecaiB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mordecaib/32/7725_2.png) [@mordecaiB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mordecaiB)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2021, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wouldnt-i-be-able-to-see-a-posters-profile/951540/5 "2021-09-28T19:51:48Z")
I don’t think so. I can read other ones on the same page. ---
**Author:** ![GreysonCarlisle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a87d85/32.png) [@GreysonCarlisle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreysonCarlisle)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2021, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wouldnt-i-be-able-to-see-a-posters-profile/951540/6 "2021-09-28T19:52:44Z")
If it’s from the same cause, give it a little while and try again (yes, the most annoying tech support answer ever, but it works a surprising amount of the time). ---
**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:** [September 28, 2021, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wouldnt-i-be-able-to-see-a-posters-profile/951540/7 "2021-09-28T19:53:45Z")
I did the “right click-open new tab” on the name and got the " Oops! That page doesn’t exist or is private." page. ---
**Author:** ![mordecaiB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mordecaib/32/7725_2.png) [@mordecaiB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mordecaiB)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2021, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wouldnt-i-be-able-to-see-a-posters-profile/951540/8 "2021-09-28T19:54:25Z")
It was you this happened to, right? I tried to search with your name and didn’t find anything. It’s been two days since I originally tried it. Yours was much shorter, I think.( This was meant for @GreysonCarlisle) ---
**Author:** ![mordecaiB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mordecaib/32/7725_2.png) [@mordecaiB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mordecaiB)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2021, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wouldnt-i-be-able-to-see-a-posters-profile/951540/9 "2021-09-28T19:54:56Z")
Yep, tried that too. No joy. ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2021, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wouldnt-i-be-able-to-see-a-posters-profile/951540/10 "2021-09-28T19:56:52Z")
When I tried to do a user search for that username, I got a “not found”. So, ultrasuperduperbanned, but traces still left in uncornfielded posts. It’s bizarro world. ---
**Author:** ![GreysonCarlisle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a87d85/32.png) [@GreysonCarlisle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreysonCarlisle)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2021, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wouldnt-i-be-able-to-see-a-posters-profile/951540/11 "2021-09-28T19:57:23Z")
> [@mordecaiB](#): > > It was you this happened to, right? I tried to search with your name and didn’t find anything. It’s been two days since I originally tried it. Yours was much shorter, I think.( This was meant for @GreysonCarlisle)  Yeah, you must’ve missed my edit. [Link here](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-is-there-a-bottom-line-to-all-these-sovereign-citizen-cases-thread-closed/950973/33). ---
**Author:** ![mordecaiB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mordecaib/32/7725_2.png) [@mordecaiB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mordecaiB)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2021, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wouldnt-i-be-able-to-see-a-posters-profile/951540/12 "2021-09-28T19:57:40Z")
I can find all his posts on search. Nothing showed up as banned. ---
**Author:** ![GreysonCarlisle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a87d85/32.png) [@GreysonCarlisle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreysonCarlisle)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2021, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wouldnt-i-be-able-to-see-a-posters-profile/951540/13 "2021-09-28T19:58:43Z")
If it’s been days and it’s still not fixed, I’d have some helpful mod move this to the Site Feedback forum so that the Discourse devs can see it. Sounds buggy to me. ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2021, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wouldnt-i-be-able-to-see-a-posters-profile/951540/14 "2021-09-28T19:59:06Z")
> [@mordecaiB](#): > > It’s [this](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-respond-to-someone-asking-this-question/950348) guy. That links to a thread. If you are talking about the OP of that thread, that user was banned on September 18th for socking. I was under the impression that banned/suspended user profiles are still visible to regular users. The Discourse folks have been tinkering with the software lately so maybe something changed. ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2021, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wouldnt-i-be-able-to-see-a-posters-profile/951540/15 "2021-09-28T19:59:31Z")
I wonder if there’s a problem in the Discourse hosting where certain database replicas are incomplete and out of sync? ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2021, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wouldnt-i-be-able-to-see-a-posters-profile/951540/16 "2021-09-28T20:05:49Z")
Ok, I unbanned one of my test accounts and checked the profile from a regular user’s point of view, and it does appear that banned/suspended user profiles are no longer visible to regular users. I’m pretty sure those used to be visible to everyone so I guess the devs made a change recently. ---
**Author:** ![mordecaiB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mordecaib/32/7725_2.png) [@mordecaiB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mordecaiB)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2021, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wouldnt-i-be-able-to-see-a-posters-profile/951540/17 "2021-09-28T20:06:52Z")
> [@engineer\_comp\_geek](#): > > I was under the impression that banned/suspended user profiles are still visible to regular users. The Discourse folks have been tinkering with the software lately so maybe something changed. They usually are visible, this is the first one that hasn’t worked for me. It doesn’t show on profile card tho, you need to click thru to the stats. I figured sock since he hadn’t posed since then. Is it extra hassle for mods to put the “Banned” right next to the user name like it is on some ex-posters? That would be a lot handier than clicking thru to the stats. I’m ok if you want to move this to the Discourse help thread to figure out why this poster didn’t work like the others. ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2021, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wouldnt-i-be-able-to-see-a-posters-profile/951540/18 "2021-09-28T20:09:21Z")
> [@mordecaiB](#): > > Is it extra hassle for mods to put the “Banned” right next to the user name like it is on some ex-posters? We usually change their title to BANNED. Sometimes we miss it. I fixed it for this case. ---
**Author:** ![mordecaiB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mordecaib/32/7725_2.png) [@mordecaiB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mordecaiB)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2021, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wouldnt-i-be-able-to-see-a-posters-profile/951540/19 "2021-09-28T20:12:41Z")
Thanks. That helps in threads that are still active so you don’t end up wasting time replying to an already banned poster. ---
**Author:** ![GreysonCarlisle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a87d85/32.png) [@GreysonCarlisle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreysonCarlisle)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2021, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wouldnt-i-be-able-to-see-a-posters-profile/951540/20 "2021-09-28T20:12:41Z")
[SlackerInc’s is still working](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thread-about-ultra-orthodox-jews-given-an-inaccurate-title-change/923009/11). [So is KennyT’s](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-to-offer-a-contrarian-take-on-this-story-blame-the-woman-mom/942686). [Terwilliger, too](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-interesting-car-you-saw-today/688889/3378). I’m still leaning toward a job that didn’t update after a user’s status change. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wouldnt-i-be-able-to-see-a-posters-profile/951540.md?page=2)