Category descriptions are not displaying

The category block is separate from the category page as it has always been.  The category page is controlled from the categories.tpl as it has always been. 

The categories on your home/index.tpl page is displaying the description right. It's working as it should be. The categories block (on your home page) uses the variables.php stuff for each skin. It also uses the archive's block settings (Admin panel), or the code on the index itself.

Now, the categories page itself, http://gokugirl.com/institute/browse.php?type=categories

uses categories.tpl to output what it should look like. I edited my categories.tpl in the default_tpls folder and used it for all my skins that way.

<!-- START BLOCK : categoryblock -->
{image} {link} {count} {description}
<!-- END BLOCK : categoryblock -->

This is not a bug. This belongs in either General Support or Skin Support.

I think you were trying to change how the categories on the categories page displays, but all you were messing with was the categories block on the index.

I want the descriptions on the index, but I also want the descriptions on the category page. I also have sub-category descriptions that aren't displaying even though I have entered descriptions for them in the admin. I was showing you with the code what had been entered by me into the categories admin.

Exactly. The index descriptions are displaying. To get the descriptions on the category page you have to edit the tpl file. A file. Nothing in the admin area.

I decided to leave the settings on default. I put in the variables in the admin for the way I want the category listings to look, but the descriptions aren't displaying. But you know what? Nevermind. I'm constantly treated like an idiot every time I ask a question in this forum as well as usually told that everything is somehow my fault. Not to mention that I often have to reword my question two or three other ways so that I'm finally understood. So the next time I have a problem, I'll simply let it remain a problem.

The BLOCK and the PAGE are controlled separately.  You have set the BLOCK and not the PAGE.  The BLOCK admin page and variables.php only admins the BLOCK not the PAGE.  Edit categories.tpl in default_tpls or in your specific skin to set the PAGE. 

But you know what? Nevermind. I'm constantly treated like an idiot every time I ask a question in this forum as well as usually told that everything is somehow my fault.

Quite the contrary. We don't think that you are an idiot, we think that you are familiar with the script and know what we are talking about. That's probably the problem. I tried to explain it in a way that you would understand for sure, but obviously I'm not doing a good job of it.  🙁 Or maybe you're just having a bad day or something? I can relate, I've had days where someone tells me the dog is blue and I just don't get it, and I keep looking for a yellow dog in a raincoat. XD

...the block looks fine on the index page, but when you click the categories link you don't see the descriptions.

This is telling us that the page that the descriptions are not displaying on is /browse.php?type=categories. To change the looks of that page, you have to edit a categories.tpl file. I don't know if you have categories.tpl files in your custom skins, or if you use the default_tpls one. Whichever one you use for the skin, that is what you edit.

My default_tpls/categories.tpl file reads this:

<!-- START BLOCK : categoryblock -->
{image} {link} {count} {description}
<!-- END BLOCK : categoryblock -->

I don't use catgeories.tpl files in my custom skins, they fall back to the defaults.

You said that your index categories block was showing up with the descriptions, and I can see (and saw) that it is (and was) working right here http://gokugirl.com/institute/

I can also see that your browse categories page is displaying the descriptions here.
http://gokugirl.com/institute/browse.php?type=categories

You have a subcategory displaying its description right here
http://gokugirl.com/institute/browse.php?type=categories&id=3

I don't know what else you could be asking for help with. You keep talking about the admin panel, but the admin panel and the categories blocks (/admin.php?action=blocks&admin=categories) should only edit the catgeories' look on the index block here /index.php. We understood that you had entered descriptions FOR the catgeories into your database through here /admin.php?action=categories and that for you, they weren't showing up here /browse.php?type=categories. To fix that, you have to make sure that the {descriptions} variable is on the categories.tpl file that is being pulled for each skin.

I can't help you any more than that. Your problem seems to be resolved, the catgeory descriptions are displaying.

Maybe it's a different problem, like trying to use a different, modded categories page, or you gave us a link to your test server, because this page
http://gokugirl.com/institute/browse.php?type=categories&id=19
lists a whole bunch of these things:

lang = new Array( ); lang['Back2Cats'] = 'Back to Main Categories'; lang['ChooseCat'] = 'Choose a Category'; lang['Categories'] = 'Categories'; lang['Characters'] = 'Characters'; lang['MoveTop'] = 'Move to Top'; lang['TopLevel'] = 'Top Level Category'; categories = new Array( ); characters = new Array( ); categories[0] = new category(-1, 1, "Anime", 0, 1); categories[1] = new category(-1, 2, "Manga", 0, 2); categories[2] = new category(-1, 3, "Video Games", 0, 3); categories[3] = new category(-1, 4, "J-Pop", 0, 4); categories[4] = new category(-1, 32, "Non-Fanfiction", 0, 5); categories[5] = new category(-1, 47, "Other", 1, 6); categories[6] = new category(1, 12, "Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon Division", 0, 1); categories[7] = new category(3, 16, "Final Fantasy VII Division", 0, 1); categories[8] = new category(32, 33, "Poetry", 0, 1); categories[9] = new category(47, 48, "Originals", 1, 1); categories[10] = new category(3, 17, "Final Fantasy VIII Division", 0, 2); categories[11] = new category(1, 24, "Card Captor Sakura Division", 0, 2); categories[12] = new category(32, 36, "Vidfics", 0, 2); categories[13] = new category(1, 14, "Cowboy Bebop Division", 0, 3); categories[14] = new category(3, 18, "Final Fantasy IX Division", 0, 3); categories[15] = new category(32, 34, "Songs", 0, 3); categories[16] = new category(1, 5, "Dragon Ball Division", 0, 4);