"That presumably had to go, and therefore the removal of the initial provocation was, I guess, just collateral damage."
Yes it was just that. I saw the deleted posts. It began innocently enough by one respondent suggesting that those who voted to leave have become scared and now want back in (which wasn't suggested by the question or any of the earlier answers). But then it descended into a farce, which was a shame because the question 3Ts posted was interesting. It was a first for me (I believe) because I had an answer removed. I made a valid riposte to the nonsense and it remained for a while (whilst the others had been deleted). But without the deleted answers it made no sense, so fair enough.