It's great to see you back around Boofo, I mean that. I stil have a few of your hacks on my 3.8 forum and I've agreed with you many times over the years on different topics, but this one? I'm sorry I just can't.
I have no clue what you're talking about with less than 4.0.3, this hack has not been updated since:
Last Update: 08 Feb 2010
This thread is 16 pages long. (for me) so, the hack itself has been around far longer than 4.0.3
As I mentioned previously, I'm not sure why another user would have edited this template and came across it, so to say no one else has had this problem is pure guess work on your part.
Maybe Elmer can help explain our problem. Or are you Elmer? You seem to be assisting here a bit more than just another coder might in this thread. You're in the top 3 posters of a 16 page thread.
No biggy, as that guy above
Hippy mentioned, the hack works. It's opening an saving the template that does not. IMHO< it's not standards compliant somehow.
But hey what do I know, you're the coder, I'm just lowly end user with issues.
All the best.