I know they're the rules and you're supposed to enforce them, but I'm still supporting my opposition against that specific rule. People come here to ask questions, and time shouldn't be a factor in whether or not they get their question answered accurately. So instead of helping that guy out, I should have made a brand new topic titled "Hey dude who had a question about a PA speaker in October", and then put my reply inside of that? It's ridiculous, if we can't help people around here and visa versa, then there's really point in questions being asked in the first place.
Yeah, it may be a rule (a stupid one at that), but it doesn't mean that rules can't be edited, changed, or omitted so that common sense is the overlying factor.