Sad Sign? Demise of Witty emails?

I was talking to a colleague today who was told off for sending a witty email to lots of people. While clearing out old emails from last year I also came across a series of mails from another academic colleague who had been told off for sending a witty email about something deemed inappropriate/insensitive or whatever.

These were not racist, sexist or otherwise obviously abusist, but they did poke fun at the present situation that many universities find themselves in. Hauling people over the coals for witty emails will not stop the wit - merely drive it off email.

That might tick a box but it hardly tackles the root causes of such emails in the first place does it... and are some people hyper sensitive to certain things because hey know they are vulnerable?