diff --git a/retroshare-gui/src/gui/gxschannels/GxsChannelPostsWidgetWithModel.cpp b/retroshare-gui/src/gui/gxschannels/GxsChannelPostsWidgetWithModel.cpp
index 2a2d12046..c6afc2ca9 100644
--- a/retroshare-gui/src/gui/gxschannels/GxsChannelPostsWidgetWithModel.cpp
+++ b/retroshare-gui/src/gui/gxschannels/GxsChannelPostsWidgetWithModel.cpp
@@ -901,7 +901,10 @@ void GxsChannelPostsWidgetWithModel::updateGroupData()
             }
 
             mGroup = group;
-			mChannelPostsModel->updateChannel(groupId());
+
+            ui->postsTree->setPlaceholderText(tr("Loading..."));
+
+            mChannelPostsModel->updateChannel(groupId());
             whileBlocking(ui->filterLineEdit)->clear();
             whileBlocking(ui->showUnread_TB)->setChecked(false);
 
@@ -944,6 +947,9 @@ void GxsChannelPostsWidgetWithModel::postChannelPostLoad()
 	ui->channelFiles_TV->sortByColumn(ui->channelFiles_TV->header()->sortIndicatorSection()
 	                                  ,ui->channelFiles_TV->header()->sortIndicatorOrder());
 
+    // if there's no posts, this is what's going to be displayed.
+    ui->postsTree->setPlaceholderText(tr("No posts available in this channel."));
+
     ui->infoPosts->setText(QString::number(mChannelPostsModel->getNumberOfPosts()) + " / " + QString::number(mGroup.mMeta.mVisibleMsgCount));
 
     // now compute aspect ratio for posts. We do that by looking at the 5 latest posts and compute the best aspect ratio for them.