sorry bud, but it's not wrong, and even if thats what the manual says, it works flawlessly the way I have my code. And not only that, but it works for 36 different button counters, at the same time, so.... heh.
option a:

PANEL* some_panel =
{
.....
....
flags = VISIBLE;
}

option b:
PANEL* dummy_panel;

dummy_panel = pan_create ("content.....; flags |= VISIBLE;", layer);