I added two custom fields used in the issue area. Our policy is to leave the two fields blank unless we have something to add to them.

I have a custom query/filter which states that they should be shown if either of the custom fields are NOT blank.

What happens is that apparently if you even tab into the fields on the issue page it creates an entry in custom_values of an empty string. Once that happens, the query/filter assumes that the values aren't blank. It seems to me that if the custom fields are left blank, there shouldn't be an entry created in the custom_values table.

I had trouble understanding the query/filter. I set it so that it reads "is not" and "blank". Apparently leaving the filter field blank doesn't work, but putting in the text, "blank" actually tells it to do the right thing. Very odd.

I can provide a movie/screenshot series if you like.