You are correct, the posts would still be there, you just wouldn't see them. Reporting the posts you find offensive is probably still a better option, because it allows the staff to assess the situation and intervene as necessary. Anyone who has moderation privileges in 4.6 Tech/Talk (the assigned staff, any Super Moderator, or Admin) can edit, or delete the offensive material. I personally do not have privileges in 4.6, but I do have the ability to give an infraction to any member who violates the TOS, if it's deemed to be necessary.
Infractions often happen behind the scenes with no comment left in the thread by the issuing staff member for that person to knock off whatever they received the infraction for, so I can see your point of someone believing the behavior was permitted, if the offending material remained. If you ever have an issue that you feel hasn't been resolved, report the post, or by all means PM any staff member. The very first place I visit when I log in is the staff forum, and I personally receive probably 2 or 3 PM's a day that are site/moderation related, so I know the other mods do, too. All reported posts show up in our staff forum, so that's probably the quickest way to get our attention, but things need to be reported, or we think it's just business as usual out in the forums if we haven't read a specific thread yet.