lib/PublicInbox/SearchView.pm | 1 +
 lib/PublicInbox/View.pm       | 3 +++

diff --git a/lib/PublicInbox/SearchView.pm b/lib/PublicInbox/SearchView.pm
index 7ef6b075bf60a5b18080f43dafc6380b407258c9..3b3afdee3db7e99d01e4ac7ac6383b4b6ccf1fd5 100644
--- a/lib/PublicInbox/SearchView.pm
+++ b/lib/PublicInbox/SearchView.pm
@@ -120,6 +120,7 @@ 			obfuscate_addrs($obfs_ibx, $f);
 		}
 		my $date = PublicInbox::View::fmt_ts($smsg->ds);
 		my $mid = PublicInbox::Hval->new_msgid($smsg->mid)->{href};
+		$s = '(no subject)' if $s eq '';
 		$$res .= qq{$rank. <b><a\nhref="$mid/">}.
 			$s . "</a></b>\n";
 		$$res .= "$pfx  - by $f @ $date UTC [$pct%]\n\n";
diff --git a/lib/PublicInbox/View.pm b/lib/PublicInbox/View.pm
index f94daaf2bd65521a97ab591eacb102fc71056ddd..62bdf0a116878e2113e29ac5827b73058e6883cc 100644
--- a/lib/PublicInbox/View.pm
+++ b/lib/PublicInbox/View.pm
@@ -213,6 +213,7 @@ 	my $root_anchor = $ctx->{root_anchor} || '';
 	my $irt;
 	my $obfs_ibx = $ctx->{-obfs_ibx};
 
+	$subj = '(no subject)' if $subj eq '';
 	my $rv = "<a\nhref=#e$id\nid=m$id>*</a> ";
 	$subj = '<b>'.ascii_html($subj).'</b>';
 	obfuscate_addrs($obfs_ibx, $subj) if $obfs_ibx;
@@ -729,6 +730,7 @@ 	$$dst .= qq!  <a\nhref="#b">top</a>\n!;
 
 	my $subj = $hdr->header('Subject');
 	defined $subj or $subj = '';
+	$subj = '(no subject)' if $subj eq '';
 	$ctx->{prev_subj} = [ split(/ /, $srch->subject_normalized($subj)) ];
 	$ctx->{cur} = $mid;
 	$ctx->{prev_attr} = '';
@@ -1039,6 +1041,7 @@ 	my $topic;
 	if ($x) {
 		$subj = $x->subject;
 		$subj = $srch->subject_normalized($subj);
+		$subj = '(no subject)' if $subj eq '';
 		$ds = $x->ds;
 		if ($level == 0) {
 			$topic = [ $ds, 1, { $subj => $mid }, $subj ];