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Has anyone noticed this recurring glitch in the Stack Exchange websites?

Frequently, when I click on "add a comment" or "show n more comments" at the bottom of a question or response, the webpage immediately scrolls to the top of the page instead of displaying the remaining comments or a comment text box.

What's going on? Exiting out of the website and reopening corrects the problem sometimes, but not always.

This has been going on intermittently since last year. I'm using the Windows 7 OS and MS Explorer internet browser. I should add that after I power down my computer and restart in the morning, the issues abates for a while, then mysteriously reappears. It's weird. Userscripts are unlikely to be involved: I don't know about userscripts on my work PC, and don't think I have any on my home PC unless the Geeks Squad folks installed them.

Edit: Responding to waxeagle - I'm not sure, I don't think so. I'm currently locked out of adding comments and I don't think any comments have been deleted from this post.

Edit: Responding to doppelgreener - We're using Internet Explorer v8 here at work.

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  • \$\begingroup\$ How long has this been occurring? Other important details to include in a bug report like this: OS and browser(s) this has occurred on, and whether you have any userscripts installed. \$\endgroup\$
    – SevenSidedDie
    Jun 17, 2015 at 16:12
  • \$\begingroup\$ @SevenSidedDie - Since last year. I'm using Windows 7. I should add that after I power down my computer and restart in the morning, the issues abates for a while, then mysteriously reappears. It's weird. I don't know about userscripts on my work PC, don't think I have any on my home PC unless the Geeks Squad folks installed them. \$\endgroup\$
    – RobertF
    Jun 17, 2015 at 16:52
  • \$\begingroup\$ Cool. And browser? \$\endgroup\$
    – SevenSidedDie
    Jun 17, 2015 at 16:53
  • \$\begingroup\$ Which version of Internet Explorer are you using? The Stack officially supports only the latest two, i.e. 10 & 11, so we should make sure you're using one of those. \$\endgroup\$
    – doppelgreener
    Jun 18, 2015 at 4:32
  • \$\begingroup\$ Does this only happen when some of the "more" comments are deleted? \$\endgroup\$
    – wax eagle
    Jun 18, 2015 at 14:25
  • \$\begingroup\$ There is actually a deleted comment here (one doppelgreener made about IE, then deleted and replaced with a more thorough comment about IE) 11 hours earlier than your observation that you're locked out of the comments here. @waxeagle, how might deleted comments be related? \$\endgroup\$
    – SevenSidedDie
    Jun 18, 2015 at 17:36
  • \$\begingroup\$ @SevenSidedDie my thought is that if there was a comment deleted after the initial page load, the "load more comments" button might be wonky since it's trying to load comments that aren't there \$\endgroup\$
    – wax eagle
    Jun 18, 2015 at 17:37
  • \$\begingroup\$ @waxeagle Right. Which wouldn't be an issue with a fresh page load though... Hm. But the coincidence is interesting still. \$\endgroup\$
    – SevenSidedDie
    Jun 18, 2015 at 17:39

1 Answer 1

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Most likely this is caused by a scripting error on the page. The "add a comment" link is actually a link to the top of the page, with a script that says "don't do that, do this instead."

The trouble is, if any scripting error occurs, IE will often stop all scripts from running. So if the script that updates the vote widget in real time fails (for example), it would also break the "add a comment" link.

If you're technical, you can view the developer tools by hitting F12. The console (which might be under the script tab) will show you the error messages, which might help you figure out exactly what's giving you problems.

There is also a category of issues which go away if you simply have the developer tools open. So opening the tools, reloading the page, and just leaving them open might help.

All that being said... The real fix is likely going to be updating to a more recent browser. IE8 is old, wasn't very good when it was released, and there have been some major shakeups in the web over the past few years.

Good luck getting it fixed at work, though...

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    \$\begingroup\$ His work will probably need to update on January 12, 2016 at least. Beginning that day, Microsoft will drop support for IE8 on Windows 7 and cease to provide it with security updates and other updates of any kind. At that time, they will only support the latest browser - IE11 - and continue to support only the latest browser at any given moment. \$\endgroup\$
    – doppelgreener
    Jun 24, 2015 at 23:11

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