Folks, please remember the following when moderating:
Nodes are not reaped unless they hit a certain threshhold of Approval deletes *and* have a negative reputation. Please remember to vote down nodes you want reaped. I've seen many with multiple delete votings, but positive reputations. While some were certainly targeted unfairly, this is more common than you might realize.
If you are a Friar (or higher) and choose to reply to a node, please take the time to OK the original node. I've seen this problem more often than the previous one.
If you vote up a node, please check its approval status. It doesn't make much sense to vote up an unapproved node, does it?
If a node has replies, it shouldn't be deleted--unless it's an obvious troll, flambait, or otherwise inappropriate.
Mind you, these are my personal opinions; your mileage may vary. I would appreciate being able to discuss such variation; reply as needed.
--f