Yesterday an ABer of eight years duration had a thread removed, presumably after a complaint by a certain gentleman, for starting a new thread to thank posters for answers on a previous thread.
It is much appreciated that ABers show their appreciation and yes perhaps it was the wrong thing to do, yes it should have been on the original thread, but here was an ABer who was not a regular,contributor giving feedback and was rewarded with having her/his thread "pulled."
What message does this send out to respected ABers? An insensitve and totally unnecessary withdrawal of a well wishing ABer.
To answer your original post - I think that there will always be 'judgment calls' about when a thread transgresses Site Rules/guidelines. Perhaps the one you refer to was taken out a trifle over-zealously, it happens sometimes unfortunately.