You don't necessarily need to stay away from self-moderated threads. It just means that the thread OP can delete your post if he/she finds it bad/useless, but it doesn't automatically mean that you can't have a good conversation in the thread.
Great info! Thanks for the reply. Now that I think back, I don't think my post was considered spam, I just brought up an altcoin that they weren't very fond of. Spending some time on Steemit I have learned to stay away from spammy comments as much as possible. Maybe I won't be so shy about self moderated posts in the future!