Sometimes (and I'm not talking about yours and I hadn't read them) posts really are in need of being deleted. Sometimes they're just very much not supportive or who knows what else.

It does not, and should not, always have to be the OP who reports a post. Sometimes posts within threads go off topic and don't even involve the OP. Sometimes the OP would be too scared or upset to report it. That actually happened on my very first thread - two users got into an argument and it had nothing to do with me or with my topic, and I was overwhelmed. Someone else reported it any my thread was closed.

Reporting doesn't always lead to deletions. If someone reports something, sometimes it's totally left alone. All reporting is doing is bringing it to the attention of the mods, because there's no way that they can always keep on top of every thread and post. So, once the mods are aware of it - it's their judgement if the post needs deleted or not. So if it's deleted? Then the mods obviously thought there was something inappropriate. Someone else just brought it to their attention.