I am curious about something .....

Please know that this is simply a curiosity question ------------------- I have NO desire to delve into deleted posts.

I recently posted something and fairly soon after, changed my mind about what I posted - subsequently deleting my post.

It vanished.

Gone.

I have noticed many other posts stating **DELETED** either in subject heading or in the post itself.

Is this by choice?

I reiterate - I chose to delete my post and was happy to see it go - but wondered why other posts show deleted and mine didn't (thankfully) ?