I created a new bare test site with only one question forum and one question thread and I have not been able to replicate the issue with the default settings. I am continuing to investigate.
Thanks for the fast reply @Wutime So with the built in articles I can show say just the first two paragraphs of the article and blur the rest? Can I also do this with a first post of a new thread?
You set the number of posts to be visible globally per user group. So it's not "how many are blurred", it's how many are "unblurred" (XenForo permission semantics).
I want to ask you something: How can Google bot see content that visitors can't see? So, are you sure it's harmless from an SEO perspective and indexing perspective? After all, Google bot isn't a user.