Topics form a crucial component of a test collection. We show, through visualization, that the INEX 2008 topics have shortcomings, which questions their validity for evaluating XML retrieval effectiveness. Categories and Subject Descriptors H.3 [Information Storage and Retrieval]: Information Search and Retrieval – Retrieval models, Search process. General Terms Reliability, Experimentation, Human Factors, Verification. Keywords INEX, XML-IR, element retrieval. IR methodology.