458345 - flash objects from the top of a long page are redisplayed further down the page, covering other content

Status: RESOLVED INCOMPLETE

(Firefox :: General, defect)

Description

[underdog_321]

User-Agent:       Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Win98; en-US; rv:1.8.1.17) Gecko/20080829 Firefox/2.0.0.17
Build Identifier: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Win98; en-US; rv:1.8.1.17) Gecko/20080829 Firefox/2.0.0.17

Sometimes, on long pages containing several embedded YouTube objects, the objects not only appear in their proper places on the page but are also repeated elsewhere on the same page where they clearly do not belong. I first noticed this on some Salon.com pages (with Firefox 2.0.0.16 or possibly earlier). This time I can provide an easier to access example:  

The Think Progress article http://thinkprogress.org/2008/10/02/vice-presidential-debate-live-blogging/
contains six flash objects, all in the top fifth of the page (the article proper) and all displayed normally. The article is followed by many (currently 523) comments. Starting in the vicinity of comments 434 and 435 (currently about 4/5 of the way down the page), the same objects recur in the same order covering and obscuring the text of the comments. 

Reminiscent of bug 373016 which reports (also on long pages with flash objects) 
"rectangular blocks" (rather than additional copies of the objects) "covering parts of page". That's Mac, though, and this is PC.

Reproducible: Always

Steps to Reproduce:
1. Go to http://thinkprogress.org/2008/10/02/vice-presidential-debate-live-blogging/
and note the five Flash objects and one Flash JavaScript near the beginning of the page.

2. Scroll down the page to the vicinity of Comments 434 and 435. Note the first Flash object redisplayed over the text of the comments. Between there and Comment 480, note the other Flash objects redisplayed in their original order.

The position of the redisplayed objects does not seem to depend on the total length of the page. As the number of comments grew from 523 to 526, the repeats occurred in exactly the same positions.
Actual Results:  
Same objects repeated in same places. The page now has 527 comments total.

Expected Results:  
Should have displayed each object only once, near the top of the page where the HTML actually calls for it.


------------------------
about:buildconfig

Build platform
target
i586-pc-msvc

Build tools
Compiler 	Version 	Compiler flags
$(CYGWIN_WRAPPER) cl 	12.00.8804 	-TC -nologo -W3 -Gy -Fd$(PDBFILE)
$(CYGWIN_WRAPPER) cl 	12.00.8804 	-TP -nologo -W3 -Gy -Fd$(PDBFILE)

Configure arguments
--enable-application=browser --enable-update-channel=release --enable-official-branding --enable-optimize --disable-debug --disable-tests --enable-static --disable-shared --enable-svg --enable-canvas --enable-update-packaging

Comment 1

[underdog_321]

Since first posting this, I've also noticed several cases where an object that appears out of place, obscuring text, near the TOP of a long page turns out to be an echo of an object that's displayed correctly further DOWN the page.

I'm sorry I can't provide a usable example; so far, I've only noticed this on blog index pages that change from day to day. I may have to start keeping track of the kinds of objects involved; I don't know if it's limited to flash embeds or not.

Comment 2

[underdog_321]

I went back to the page where I originally demonstrated this problem -- http://thinkprogress.org/2008/10/02/vice-presidential-debate-live-blogging/ -- and tried increasing the text size. The same echoes of the flash objects still appear, but obscuring different text. The position of the echo seems to determine on something other than number of characters after the original.

Comment 3

[Tyler Downer [He/Him]]

This is a mass search for bugs which are in the Firefox General component, are
UNCO, have not been changed for 500 days and have an unspecified version. 

Reporter, can you please update to Firefox 3.6.10 or later, create a fresh profile, http://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/managing+profiles, and test again. If you still see the issue, please update this bug. If the issue is gone, please set the status to RESOLVED > WORKSFORME.

Comment 4

[Tyler Downer [He/Him]]

No reply from reporter, INCOMPLETE. Please retest with Firefox 3.6.12 or later and a new profile (http://support.mozilla.com/kb/Managing+profiles). If you continue to see this issue with the newest firefox and a new profile, then please comment on this bug.