rule's formula seems not to be syntactically correct.

could you explain what should formula check for to hide panel?

The syntax should be like this:

not(equals(ReportType,'Incident'))

Roger,

You are correct the syntax was incorrect, however even after correcting the syntax it still did not work.  I made sure no other content or panels were associated with the rule, but the entire form still did not display. When I removed the show all check, it miraculously worked. Later I tried to change the rule condition and it didn't work,  but did in another form. I think there may just be something wrong with my form.

Thanks for the assistance.

'Show all' do not have any impact on functionality!

it's just designer feature, the form doesn't know about it at runtime.

the reason it's working sometimes and sometimes not might be that you have an error in one of your rules, calculations (or javascript, if you use it) that is sensitive on data you input on the form, or you have a rule/calculation that needs to be evaluated at some circumstances and at some not.