Well we'll probably have to wait for clarification from the admins on that. It's the first situation I've heard of a mod editing and merging double posts but maybe it should be taken on a case-by-case basis. I think people should make the habit of not doing double posts though.

There is no rule against "double posting" as you are describing. Who was the moderator that did this and what was the post?

By making two posts, it makes it easier to read, especially when you are quoting multiple responses. If you make one post that responded to 5 or 6 different people then more likely then not the people you are responding to will either not see that you responded to them or will otherwise ignore your post.

This practice may or may not be post padding, however post padding is not against the rules, making insubstantial posts however is, so as long as each of your posts are not insubstantial and contributes to the conversation then you should be fine.

A reply of yours, quoted below, was deleted by a Bitcoin Forum moderator. Posts are most frequently deleted because they are off-topic, though they can also be deleted for other reasons. In the future, please avoid posting things that need to be deleted.