In principle I wholly agree with Ian. Thread titles should make sense. However I think it's quite possible to make sense and be "silly" at the same time, and a lot of great threads have started out with silly titles.

"Have you cracked a joke, but left the smilie off..."(Clinton)

Well, this is thread drift on my part, but... In face to face communication, if someone smiles while they are proffering an insult that can mean that it isn't intended to hurt, or it can be a way of making it hurt more. It's notbreally thatvdifferent on the internet. Imagine reading a racist sounding crack from some stranger, accompanied by a smiley.

People have been writing letters for thousands of years without having to put little drawings in the text to explain what they mean. All of which underscores the value of a preview page and the importance of reading through what we've written. It is important always to try to avoid insulting anyone accidentally.