I agree with that... I too can't think of a good reason to allow a self-moderating topic-starter to delete another user's posts a long time after they were written. (Unless, maybe, the topic-starter has returned after a long break from the forum, or something. I guess, accounting for that would be simple enough, but, it's the kind of band-aid-on-band-aid logic that quickly leads me back around to thinking that the whole self-moderation feature should never have been implemented in the first place. In fact, if it didn't currently exist, and it only now came up as a new suggestion in this thread, I'm pretty sure that almost everyone would hiss at the idea.)
Even though I was the one who brought the topic back to the table (I had some kind of mental breakdown - sorry), I don't think there's any point in either
self-moderation or
self-rejection of merits.
The ability to delete posts should be reserved for moderators only. Furthermore, a self-moderated topic ends up being biased and can become authoritarian. I think I've only made 1 self-moderated topic to date, and I regretted it soon after (I hated seeing the message at the top), but I've never exercised that authority.
As LoyceV commented, we've all been hurt by some crazy self-moderated poster. I personally avoid posting in these threads as well. If this option disappears, it would be fantastic, because until now I have never seen any real use for it.
I don't even like the idea of merging posts - in certain contexts, even less the idea of deleting posts. In fact, I see entire topics with titles and posts, with only 1 character and nobody deletes them (I don't understand why), and then we have people deleting legitimate posts.