I was the one who deleted the "thank you" posts. I use a tool that scans new posts for low value content. I go through the results periodically and manually delete any posts that violate rule 1 from
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=703657.0 or any other rule.
My guess is this:
1. No zero or low value, pointless or uninteresting posts or threads. [1][e]
I would say that forum moderation tends to be quite strict in terms of posts that doesn't really add to the discussion (I know there isn't a lot of discussion in the collectibles anyways). It would be quite detrimental to the forum if all the account botters flocks to collectibles and starts spamming useless posts.
I don't think it's particularly fair to remove posts that express gratitude but perhaps giving a merit would be better.
Right on the money.
You are free to thank people in posts that contain other constructive content. If you don't have anything to add, you can also just thank the person via PM.
Saying thank you for (free) raffles and congratulating people in said raffles (or even auctions) should not be counted as "zero or low value, pointless or uninteresting posts". Those kinds of posts are usually only deleted if the poster wears a signature campaign. You do not, you just promote a fellow cryptocurrency collectible creator. Plus, you are an active part of the collectors community.
If it was a random newbie (or someone with a signature campaign), I might understand, but I fully understand why you're pissed and, in my opinion, you have good reasons to be pissed.
I try to apply the rules consistently and unless there are exceptional circumstances, I'd rather not give select communities a pass "just because". AFAIK I haven't deleted a single "thank you" post from a raffle winner and have skipped over numerous others since while they were borderline, they did contain something more constructive than "congrats and thank you".