Industrial park!

In order to determine whetherv a statement is meant ironically or seriously (if it's not OBVIOUSLY one or the other), one must have at least some knowledge of the speaker. That can be difficult when chatting on the web with people in other hemispheres.
(Sweeping Generalization Alert:) I think that Americans tend to assume that people mean what they say, unless clued otherwise, while British folks (more skeptical, I guess) assume everyone is "taking a piss".

Cheers,
Michael