I couldn't possibly say since I didn't play with the same DMs over multiple editions. I personally think deaths come more from the DM and his or her style of play than from a particular edition.
Every day, thousands of threads on the internet are abandoned, just like this one. For only a dollar a day, you can help give threads like "ignore this thread" a better life. Your donation will help support "ignore this thread", and its entire community.
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Actually, only spamming threads are annihilated, I believe. These threads are rarely, if ever, I've noticed, deleted, even if the OP is asking for the thread to be deleted.
Asking for it to be ignored? Bah, that's just asking for attention.