I was uninvolved in this, because I'm staying out of that thread like my life depends on it. So this may not be applicable here, but it's always worth mentioning. Many times what is moved to snippiness is not snippy content. It might be moved because it is part of a subdiscussion that gets orphaned by another post being moved to snippiness. I often try to put out a blanket statement letting people know of this collateral damage, but generally people really don't like it when that happens. A nice thing about that thread is that you can always go back in, find your content, and copy and paste it back into the thread (if it's collateral damage). Much nicer than deletion, in my opinion.
I'll also say that moderator actions aren't always focused on a single event. I'll say it in the way a friend of mine explained scolding his kid in a public place. "I'm not yelling at them for the thing they just did. I'm yelling at them for the 500 things these people didn't see that led up to that thing."
Just saying that there is often more background than meets the eye. Again, speaking generally and not specifically to this particular action.