Mirrored /r/50501 Popular Posts
That's just a tactic to kill discussion and interest in the subject. The mods can point to the pinned post when they delete posts and if new information comes out and gets posted people won't really see it unless they scroll the entire thread.
It's a classic reddit tactic.
That's how reddit silences people. No more posts making it to the front page. Ban any other posts outside the one comment section for violating the rules, and ban the user who tried posting it.
And that was the end of that dissent in the cult.