They're all self moderated threads and I think chmod opens most of the threads in the press section. I guess he's cleaning things up. Nothing to do with bots or mods.
Might be. RustyNomad, can you have a look at the "Post deletion" message? It states who has deleted the posts, there.
The PM's I received in regards to the deletions was from 'Bitcoin Forum' and under that name the word 'Guest'