diff --git a/static/js/topic_list.js b/static/js/topic_list.js
index 9043ccf8b0..5b8a0bb6e9 100644
--- a/static/js/topic_list.js
+++ b/static/js/topic_list.js
@@ -2,6 +2,11 @@ var topic_list = (function () {
 
 var exports = {};
 
+// Once we are ready to clean up CSS for some of the features
+// hidden by this flag, we should just revert the whole commit
+// here (do `git blame` on this line).
+waiting_on_css_polish_for_more_topics = true;
+
 // We can only ever have one active widget.
 var active_widget;
 
@@ -151,17 +156,26 @@ exports.widget = function (parent_elem, my_stream_id) {
     self.show_spinner = function () {
         // The spinner will go away once we get results and redraw
         // the whole list.
+        if (waiting_on_css_polish_for_more_topics) {
+            return;
+        }
         var spinner = self.dom.find('.searching-for-more-topics');
         spinner.show();
     };
 
     self.show_no_more_topics = function () {
+        if (waiting_on_css_polish_for_more_topics) {
+            return;
+        }
         var elem = self.dom.find('.no-more-topics-found');
         elem.show();
         self.no_more_topics = true;
     };
 
     self.show_help_link = function () {
+        if (waiting_on_css_polish_for_more_topics) {
+            return;
+        }
         var elem = self.dom.find('.sidebar-topics-help');
         elem.show();
     };