This is an observation and opinion based on the recent deletion of a thread titled "Urgent!". I don't really want to discuss that particular thread, or whatever happened to it, that's not the main point. I'd rather just voice my opinion on the general principles involved, and perhaps get some discussion from it.
In a follow-up thread, SlickOne stated:
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With that said, when a thread is requested to be removed by the thread owner we almost always remove it, no matter what the reason may be.
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To me, this seems to be an unreasonable policy, in general. First of all, calling the person who started a thread for the "thread owner" seems wrong. This is a public board, but run by a private person. Either the threads "belong" to the owner of the board, or to all of the posters. I can understand deleting posts at the request of the poster who made it, but deleting an entire thread, including all the posts made by other posters, at the request of the original poster is not fair to the other posters.
In this thread there was no specific content, so nothing was really lost, but imagine a thread with contributions from a number of posters, including pictures and videos, suddenly being deleted because the original poster wanted it? Delete his posts, if necessary, and keep the rest of the thread intact for the rest of us to enjoy would be a more fair policy, IMO. Exceptions being in cases where the subject matter of the thread is the problem at hand, and not just certain posts, but in those cases anybody should be able to request the closing of a thread, and not just the original poster.
It could also be helpful to include some kind of link, as with moved threads, containing a single post explaining that the thread has been deleted, and possibly an explanation if appropriate, so that people don't get frustrated or confused, and so that there won't be started a new thread with the same problems.
These are only suggestions and an invitation to discussion, and fortunately these things rarely happen, but it is still something I'd like to see adressed.