1. Because the first reply to it was from someone who insinuated their marketing strategy was dodgy and lacking in class.
I very much doubt a whole thread got deleted, because of some arbitrary stance on the issue, posted by another user within that thread.
Well it did. At my request - after I reported the thread - myself.

To which there was 1 reply. The guy who responded was not nasty about his comment, nor did he attack me personally, but I just felt it killed the 'vibe' - yeah thats what it was, the 'vibe' of it.
Kinda like when you make an effort to impress that special lady; soft-lighting , music, candles....and then your mum shows up. Bit of an (excuse the pun) anti-climax.