Replying to Comment Censoring

since when have mods started removing "bad" comments in the news articles. some people wish to express their personal opinion regarding people, places and events only to have them deleted? i understand that some of the comments are crude and probably shouldn't be said but others aren't so bad and are still removed.

was there any announcement of this or rules regarding posting in the comments section? i know there is a forum rules thread but are they the same?