We have a weird thing in this country called "April Fool's (or Fools') Day" that occurs on April 1st. I'm not sure of its origin, but I'm sure Wikipedia has an article on it. On that day, it's customary or allowable to "prank" people by saying outrageous things and then announcing "April Fools!" after they've gone into panic mode. (My wife accepted my proposal on April 1st, but she meant it.)
The moral is, check the date before responding. If a thread hasn't seen any activity for more than a week (or 2 or 3 days really) there's probably no point in responding, and any thread started on April 1st is suspect.
April Fool's!