I'm beginning to wonder if this, temporary glitch, is more of a traffic control.
I remember Rob Galbraith, in years past, resorting to a similar technique. It helped keep the holiday masses from crashing the server.
It does seem to affect only the forums that would feel the weight of the, I need something to do, DPR crowd.

davidbogdan

While I'm posting,
I was wondering if there was something that could be done about consecutive pages not showing up once I've started reading a thread.
This happens often and can be quite frustrating..

I doubt it - and in fact there seems to be less traffic than at non holiday times to me - certainly seem to be fewer new posts.

Fred appears to be still working on bugs and changes despite the holidays - good show Fred