Hi Jeff,
It’s not so much not being able to view them (Mods can) but that Delete has complications in the “leaving a paper trail” way.
AFAIK from my albeit somewhat limited testing, When a post is Deleted it
Can not be found in Search
Removes any Notification Flags it might have had associated with it
We have a great team of Mods, but at times we like to cross-reference a new post with an older one.
eg. that “haven’t I seen this before” feeling.