--- header-pane.cc.bak	2006-05-05 19:46:59.000000000 -0500
+++ header-pane.cc	2006-05-05 19:47:00.000000000 -0500
@@ -90,7 +90,8 @@
     const char * pch = (const char*) pan_tree_store_peek_value (PAN_TREE_STORE(model), iter, COL_COLLATED_AUTHOR);
     if (!pch) {
       const Article * a (get_article (model, iter));
-      char * tmp = do_collate (a->author.c_str());
+      const char * in = a->author.empty() ? "" : a->author.c_str();
+      char * tmp = do_collate (in);
       pan_tree_store_set (PAN_TREE_STORE(model), iter, COL_COLLATED_AUTHOR, tmp, -1);
       g_free (tmp);
       pch = get_collated_author (model, iter);
@@ -104,7 +105,8 @@
     const char * pch = (const char*) pan_tree_store_peek_value (PAN_TREE_STORE(model), iter, COL_COLLATED_SUBJECT);
     if (!pch) {
       const Article * a (get_article (model, iter));
-      char * tmp = do_collate (a->subject.c_str());
+      const char * in = a->subject.empty() ? "" : a->author.c_str();
+      char * tmp = do_collate (in);
       pan_tree_store_set (PAN_TREE_STORE(model), iter, COL_COLLATED_SUBJECT, tmp, -1);
       g_free (tmp);
       pch = get_collated_subject (model, iter);