What is a “vanity” thread?
It's what happens when three or more planets align in the same orbit pattern and the moon looks like a strawberry ice-cream scoop. One should always don galoshes of a nonconducting material such as rubber when posting such threads and it is very advisable to stay out of the shower.
Be on the alert for moose and keep your sister protected from such; otherwise she may get bitten.
Have a wide variety of good cheeses on hand.
And by all means (very critical) wear decent socks. Ensure that there is no wear around the heel or toe and that the elastic is in good shape.
I hope this clears it up.
Welcome to FR.
It's when somebody gets a brain fart, and instead of posting their two sentence comment to an existing thread that pertains to that same subject, they decide to post a whole new thread.
A vanity thread is what results when a person posts a thread for a thought they had that could easily have been posted as a mere comment on any of a number of preexisting threads. They are annoying because they are usually redundant- take for example the multitude of threads on the rumors about Palin. Every one of them could simply have been posted to the first thread on the Palin rumors. These things are called vanities because the most annoying of these posts are by vain people who think their thoughts are so original they need a separate thread when in fact there is nothing original about them.
I think this thread is the first thread about yesterday's the latest server problem so it's not a redundant thread. It also does not really qualify as a vanity since curiosity rather than ego was the reason for posting it.
Someone else has probably answered your question though, so I'm in violation of the etiquette rule requiring us to read the entire thread before posting. Oops.