As designed Options Handle is Displayed when there are no Topics

[Lawrence]

When there are no threads or conversations the options handle is displayed, and clicking it displays the sort order. Although not a bug, the handle should be displayed only if there is something that can be sorted.

To fix this in thread view I wrapped the h3 and the form with: <xen:if is="{$stickyThreads} OR {$threads}">

and in conversation list: <xen:if is="{$conversations}">

 

[Mike]

There are situations where there may be filters in place where this is useful (as it lets you change the filter).