You raise a lot of well-considered points!
Would it have offended less people if the thread was named "Neglect Dreadlocks in people with tight, springy/curled hair of a deep colour"? Maybe. Would it have been needlessly impractical to call it such? I think so.
I take no issue with the choice of language it's the OP's post. I am resigned to living in a world where people choose to talk this way, and lacking the mental fortitude to survive so much stress, I elect not to think too overmuch on the semantics.
As to the practicality of language, I don't disagree that the alternative you present would have been, overly cumbersome, and everyone deserves their poetic liberties. But what unto the cost of such convenience?
I just wish I lived in a world where a thread named "Neglect Dreadlocks" would have been enough. I'm sure some people that fit the description would have responded, as some of us clearly seem to be in evidence.
It was in no-way used in a derogatory, defamatory or insulting manner, and shouldn't be taken as such.
I don't take it these ways, and I didn't mean to come down on the OP, but I don't think that lack of negative intent necessarily precludes negative impact, a la Kenneth and Mamie Clark's Doll experiments, separate but equal doctrine, etc. This kind of careless language perpetuates thought patterns that lead to bad effects. From a personal point of view, no matter how individual I am, I still have to fight past people's (of all so called races) preconceptions about what I'm like. It's trifling laziness of thought and unworthy of sentient beings.
Admittedly, I don't profess complete innocence from these habits, but I actively reject the idea that I have to think in these terms or perpetuate these thought patterns. If I have a brain, I can train it to reject that hardwiring, and respect people for their personalities.
a lot of people get needlessly offended by the use of such terms, regardless of context
From my personal experience, the context is that due to the culture I live in, people who I think have been my friends for years seem not to be able to see past my skin color or even knowing they're doing it. Due to the same culture, people from my own "ethnic group" say some racist shit about their own neighbors without even thinking about it. Ultimately, people contribute to other people's suffering and justify it under the guise that it's OK because the people doing the suffering are somehow different. Regardless how innocently it starts off, that seems to be the end extreme, and I see few positive benefits along the way.
As to whether it's needless or not, I'm tired of living in this world where people think it's acceptable to boil someone down to simple terms. It's so inadequate, and it doesn't help make the universe better.
Clearly OP meant no disrespect or racial profiling by using the term, so why should it be taken as such?
Again, my choice to be offended or not (I'm not) isn't the issue, my ego isn't that important in the scheme of things. For me the issue is just decades of frustration at being "black guy" instead of primarily being "whomever I presented myself as".
Ultimately, I feel that every "offensive racist" problem I've dealt with was likely rooted not in maliciousness but in casual lack of effort and acceptance of "inoffensive racialist" thought, and that's a woefully inadequate justification for the tribalism that continues to plague our sphere to this day.