I've been here for ten years now (dd3 10th birthday approaching)
When I started posting threads were hardly ever deleted. Sometimes people would ask for them to go and they were nearly always told to get a grip. This had a very positive effect on posting behaviour because it just wasn't possible to talk a load of bollocks on a thread and not have it come up to bite you later. It dealt with a lot of posters who would otherwise have time wasted.
That principle seems to have totally disappeared now. Threads are deleted all the time ' to protect privacy' when what seems to be meant is to protect the posters blushes because they've had their arse handed to them on a plate. Some posters in particular are getting threads, which people have spent time and energy answering, deleted repeatedly.
This is a website for adults and I think we all need to behave like adults. That means sticking by our comments. Could we try a no thread deletion policy for a bit? Threads with rl names could have those posts deleted but the threads still stand. Might encourage better posting behaviour.