I posted on a regional board asking for some general info on the city & surrounding areas. Got a few helpful responses but then the thread was removed for violating TER's posting guidelines. I keep reading over them and can't for the life of me figure out why that wasn't allowed.

...doesn't matter if it's your regular area or not. Doesn't matter if you're not there at the time. As long as TER doesn't see something that makes them think it's an ad. Of course as you know you can only do ads on the ad boards and there are guidelines for that which I'm sure you follow. If you find yourself in an area unexpectedly and want to work the only way on TER to let guys know would be to post on that area's ad board. Anything on the regional non-ad board that looks like an ad would be pulled.

...with your post. One possibility (just a guess) if your question was the originater of the thread and you included a link to your info as part of your post TER considers that an ad and will pull it. They don't mind you placing a link in any replies to a thread even one you originated but you can't place a link in your own post that originates a thread.

You may post 1 visiting ad every 7 days on an ad board only.

You can't post ads on the regional boards, period.  

Nope, no link. Just a post inquiring about which neighborhoods to stay in or avoid.  

My offhand guess is that you posted a link in your ad. If not, no clue.  

TER has hundreds of invisible rules. Their enforcement depends entirely on who happens to br browsing that area on that particular day. If you wrote to admin for an explananation once a week for a year, you would get 52 different explanations. That is what is going on with TER these days. But go ahead and ask, you might get some insight.

I posted a pic (with no link to any website) on the fl state theme thread and also one in mn on the same day. The Florida one was taken off because I'm not advertising on the ad board about my visit. I asked them why and they said I could not post in theme threads in 2 places at the same time without a visiting ad.  

I don't think they have 52 different admins. You'll get the same answer at least a few times. Probably get about 47 different explanations with a few repeats.

Speaking for myself, the only time I've ever experienced this was when there were local good old boy moderators who could and WOULD give you a hard time if you weren't a super model.  (with the exception of Swimtrekr)