I see a lot of nodes without titles, bodies, or both; I suspect (and hope) that most of these are accidental. I don't see any drawback to requiring that a submission have something in both fields; I'd suggest that the engine check all new submissions before committing them.
I agree. It's annoying when I click on a link to a node in Newest Nodes and there is nothing there. And I don't think it would be too difficult to implement something like you are suggesting.
I also agree. This has been a problem here for awhile now, and many people have posted complaints similar to this one. Vroom, I think you should give this issue some of your valuable time. It needs it. Thanks.