I believe that could be a very nice feature to be available per usergroup. The system caters this now with social groups and such* why not allow a thread starter within a group to be able to manage only the thread they create!!!
Any posters to their thread* they can edit or delete as appropriate. If a moderator or above edits a post* then it closes that off from them being to able to any longer edit it.
Many thread starters would love to have control over managing their own threads* without having to be a moderator... and I believe such a thing would even cut down moderator responsibilities as the majority of people are typically responsible* which allows them to close off off-topic posts* arguments* quickly.
__DEFINE_LIKE_SHARE__