@matigo It's standard operating procedure over there. I'm not the first, and I won't be the last.
Background:
To make a long story short, there was a forum thread dedicated to deals and bargains on watch sales. There was a kerfuffle over someone using Amazon associate links, then someone said something a mod didn't like, and he froze the thread and deleted every post that didn't "respect his authoritah!"
Meanwhile, one of the regulars got tired of all the kindergarten bullshit and started his own damn forum [manontime.com], where all the activity in the thread migrated. When people started asking about it, anyone who replied with info on where to find it had their post deleted. I think I got caught up in that, although I never directly pointed anyone to a specific URL.
The mod in question is a retired sergeant, and that kind of tells you everything you need to know.