I'm not afraid of censorship, when done, well, censorship. I remember when I could not judge whether mods were doing their job well. I can not judge myself if I agree a topic is out of stock if it is deleted.

Mods, if you feel you need to close a thread down, why not just lock it? Some other forums have a "trash" section where the "deleted" topic goes, is still available to read, but does not clutter the main forum. Perhaps this would be something to look at here?

Can anyone give a good reason why deleting a topic would be more appropriate to just lock it, excuse absences and other unforeseen circumstances?