I am against self-moderation and I never open my threads with that option if it is not absolutely necessary. I am all out for freedom of speech and true decentralization where no one person has the power to shut somebody down. Self-moderation is not a solution to the problem it is just a remedy to mask the problem. It is also part of the reason I am not active in those JollyGood threads you mentioned.
Self moderation doesn't always have to mean that you're censoring users. You could just be removing off topic, and unsubstantial posts, rather than relying on the forum moderators. That's a perfectly legitimate reason to open one up. You don't have to delete posts you don't agree with. I know there's a negative stigma around self moderated threads, but I've seen them become more prominent, and more importantly more accepted among the community over the years.
We moderators definitely do appreciate it when we get reports, but I can understand a users point of view if they don't want to rely on us for certain things. Especially, when it specifically isn't bad enough to break our interpretation of the rules, whereas yours you think it should be removed. I guess that could be considered censorship, but it's not like you're actively shutting people's opinions down, simply because they're giving a different opinion, it's because you deem it unsubstantial. Thus, they kind of accept that upon entering the thread.
That's probably the reason it's best to start a new self moderated thread, and just lock the old one. Since, then those that didn't sign up to the idea of a self moderated thread, wouldn't find their posts deleted suddenly, because it has now been converted to a self moderated thread.