lib/PublicInbox/View.pm | 2 +-
 t/psgi_v2.t             | 2 ++

diff --git a/lib/PublicInbox/View.pm b/lib/PublicInbox/View.pm
index 89174296335ab594cfac100db4d87664d506afc4..c42654b68204c67f697278bedfba504850b8c889 100644
--- a/lib/PublicInbox/View.pm
+++ b/lib/PublicInbox/View.pm
@@ -1056,7 +1056,7 @@
 sub dump_topics {
 	my ($ctx) = @_;
 	my $order = delete $ctx->{order}; # [ ds, subj1, subj2, subj3, ... ]
-	if (!@$order) {
+	unless ($order) {
 		$ctx->{-html_tip} = '<pre>[No topics in range]</pre>';
 		return 404;
 	}
diff --git a/t/psgi_v2.t b/t/psgi_v2.t
index 2c9387a496cb0d16b31019bf2297d12ecba3d834..c4f808695b000110d84d69605f5e6e42a2437d2e 100644
--- a/t/psgi_v2.t
+++ b/t/psgi_v2.t
@@ -250,6 +250,8 @@ 		my $new = $cb->(GET('/v2test/' . $links[1]));
 		is($old->content, 'old', 'got expected old content');
 		is($new->content, 'new', 'got expected new content');
 	}
+	$res = $cb->(GET('/v2test/?t=1970'.'01'.'01'.'000000'));
+	is($res->code, 404, '404 for out-of-range t= param');
 });
 
 done_testing();