Comment 3 for bug 511603

This bug has been successfully reproduced in several different ways. No other applets to the right of the default Menu Bar are affected by this issue. However, if the default menu bar is removed, and more items added in it's place, then whichever item is furthest to the left gets affected. Even more instances of the Menu Bar, not to the far left, are unaffected. In summary...

The GNOME-Panel has a limited amount of space for items. If more items are added than there is space for, then items are pushed behind (or on top) of the item furthest to the left, whether it be applet or launcher. As more items are added, more items begin to stack to the far left. This causes all but one of the stacked items to become unusable.