Indeed, it was removed by moderators. Here’s the OP’s response:

https://old.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/h9ctho/serious_a...

Edit: another user determined it was both removed and deleted.

maybe it's because you use the "redesign"?

One of the problems I have is that as a moderator on some subreddits I have issues if I don't use the new reddit site. I prefer the old site much more but find it annoying to have to flip flop back and forth so I have settled on the crapdesign.

I just tested it and any post deleted by the user has [deleted] for both the post body and username. Posts removed by mods will have [removed] for the post body but will still leave the username untouched. A post needs to be both deleted and removed for it to appear like that specific example with [removed] for the body and [deleted] for the username.

It says "Sorry, this post was deleted by the person who originally posted it." https://imgur.com/a/8ZeyR7N

Old reddit says “removed”, which implies it was done by the moderators https://imgur.com/a/jowwaq6

https://i.imgur.com/pkzrm25.png -- It literally says it was deleted by the user.

As another user has pointed out, it's both. The post was removed by moderators first, then the user deleted it some time after that. This information is only visible in the old design, not in the redesign.

Unfortunately if the user removed it you can't really see the order of events then. I don't believe you can now see who removed it first. I know as a mod on reddit I have deleted posts that were already removed by the user.

Yes you can, because it is impossible to remove a deleted post. Your anecdote is not true.

Also, the user posted a comment complaining about the removal.