Furious,
I'd guess that some posts are gutted because they're just _that bad_. The O'Club walks a fine tightrope above the insanity, and unlike a well trained jury cannot be relied on to "strike from the record" stuff that's been posted. If someone posts, say, some claim that 'ten thousand babies were raped in the Superdome by black looters' or something else outrageous, there's a contingent on this board that will walk away from that thread after reading it inflamed with fury. Even from beyond the grave, the locked thread will spawn other posts and so on.
By gutting the thread, I think they're trying to catch the cancer before it spreads.
If this were a library or something, I'd be up in arms over 'omg teh book burning REVISIONIST HISTORY ARARHGHHGG!' but it's not, it's a conversation place provided as a service by a company, and I respect and admire the steps they've taken to keep this place alive.
PS, I think all the 'in' comments in this and other threads are kinda silly. Actually, I think even less of them than that, but in the interests of not setting the bozo bit on this post, I'll refrain.