deletion of email messages

As it's a threaded system it's a little more difficult than a standard system. What do you think should happen if someone trys to reply to a deleted message, I can see these possiblities :
1. Person is told they cannot reply.
2. Thread is undeleted.
3. Threads cannot ever be deleted be can be archived.
1. Person is told they cannot reply.
2. Thread is undeleted.
3. Threads cannot ever be deleted be can be archived.

It would be ok if you could archive them and we don't have a lot of messages in our mail