Thanking other members: courtesy, clutter, or both?

Question

Over on Meta Stack Exchange, I see there has been a lot of discussion about whether community members should refrain from posting thanks in their questions, and whether it is good practice or rude to edit out those comments.

For instance:

Posting: Why is it considered rude to say 'thanks in advance'? Editing: Should 'Hi', 'thanks,' taglines, and salutations be removed from posts?

The minimalist view can be summed up as 'thanks are clutter'.

Others find that de-cluttering the Qs by taking out 'thanks in advance' is rude.

Your thoughts? If I have to edit a Q anyway to remove a redundant signature, I will usually take out the "thanks in advance" at the same time. If I leave a comment reminding new members that they can show their appreciation by upvoting answers they like, that can seem too much like campaigning for votes.

Your thoughts? What's the right balance for this site?

Answer 1

I agree wholeheartedly with the sentiments expressed in the question Should 'Hi', 'thanks', taglines, and salutations be removed from posts? and its most upvoted answer.

I like to be polite when making comments, because those are temporary, yet reach the person for whom they are intended.

Questions and answers are primarily intended for future readers of the Q&A who find them through search so greetings, thanks, salutations, signatures and any other form of chit chat are clutter and should be removed. The Tour and our Help reinforce this.

I try to always remove such clutter as soon as I see it because the longer it stays the more likely a new user is to see it and think that they should do likewise, which perpetuates the editing cycle. I like to leave a comment saying why it has been removed, which is quick when I am using my laptop, but editing from my iPhone is more cumbersome so from there I usually omit that courtesy.

The way to thank permanently is via upvotes and accepts.