I don't mind moderation, when done in, well, moderation. I do mind when I cant judge whether the mods are doing their jobs well or not. I can't judge for myself if I agree a thread was out of line if it's been deleted.

Mods, if you feel you need to shut a thread down, why not just lock it? Some other forums feature a "trash bin" section where "deleted" threads go, still available to read, but not cluttering the main forums. Maybe this would be something to look into here?

Can anyone give a good reason why deleting a thread would be preferable to just locking it, absent legal reasons and other force majeure?