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I asked my second question (Reloading attributes of selected item using GeoServer/OpenLayers) and ended it with "Thank you for any suggestions", since I found that polite.

A moderator deleted that last sentence from my question.

Is it considered wrong to add something like that to a question?

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    There are two regularly colliding visions in this community: A lax one, where you can write as you want (style, marks of gratitude etc) and a strict one where each post should look similar to other posts, a bit like book chapters. In any case however people are respectful and motivated by helping others... Keep posting your interesting questions and why not bringing answers to this site!
    – JGH
    Jun 15, 2021 at 11:38
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    Votes are anonymous, there is no way for you (or anyone including moderators) to know whether a user has downvoted a post. It is possible (maybe even likely) that the user that edited your question was not the same user who downvoted. As such I am removing that from your question, as well as the comment on tagging since your question has now been migrated to Meta GIS (the place for questions about GIS Stack Exchange site)
    – Midavalo Mod
    Jun 15, 2021 at 17:14
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    There IS actually a way of knowing it since I checked in again before I went to bed and the votes were as before, then again after brushing my teeth and then the article had been edited and downvoted, so it would be a very odd coincidence if after hours of being ignored, a moderator would feel the need to remove my thank you and within 3 minutes from that editing, another user would downvote it.
    – user184042
    Jun 15, 2021 at 22:11
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    @JGH: I didn't contribute any answers since this whole topic is new to me and I hoped to get answers even as a complete newbie. I would have given answers later but this behavior alienates me too much, so I found the delete button and in 24 hours, my account should be gone. Thanks again to those who answered on the two questions I posed.
    – user184042
    Jun 15, 2021 at 22:26

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
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In the spirit of Should 'Hi', 'thanks', taglines, and salutations be removed from posts? and No Thanks, Damn It!, I will often remove expressions of gratitude such as "Thank you for any suggestions" because I think they are a form of Chit Chat which the Tour says should not be included in posts.

Nowadays, I try not to do that except in conjunction with other edits to the body and/or title of a question. I was surprised to see that I had done no other editing in this case, so I suspect I got distracted.

Looking back at it just now, I noticed that it is a PostGIS question without any SQL included, and I wonder whether I may have been pondering whether that needed to be included.

Any ambiguity about whether including thanks in posts is OK, or not, can be found on the Expected Behavior page of this site, and of all Stack Exchange sites::

Do not use signature, taglines, greetings, thanks and other chit chat.

Every post you make is already “signed” with your standard user card, which links directly back to your user page. Your user page belongs to you, so fill it with information about your interests, links to stuff you’ve worked on, or whatever else you like!

Thanks and other statements of appreciation are unnecessary, and like other chit chat should not be included.

If you use signatures, taglines, greetings, thanks or other chit chat, it will be removed to reduce noise in the questions and answers.

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    Fine, if no thanks are wanted here, I'll be unpolite in the future although I do not get why anybody would feel hurt by something like this. "My time is way too valuable to read 5 words, that distracts me wayyyyy too much from the awesome work I'm doing." followed by "Spending time on actually editing the post just for that reason is a vital part of my work!" I was also not aware of the apparent fact that there are only questions including SQL allowed, I was naively assuming "Geagraphic Information Systems" stood for GIS including PostGIS and not only SQL which isn't even mentioned there.
    – user184042
    Jun 15, 2021 at 7:22
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    @Quiensabe It's not a matter of being impolite, rather about being concise - not because we feel it's time-wasting or distracting, but because SE is a focused Question and Answer site and not a discussion forum (which is more conversational). We don't tend to go out of our way removing thanks (or other "chitchat") unless part of another edit, but sometimes we do without thinking.
    – Midavalo Mod
    Jun 15, 2021 at 17:20
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    @Quiensabe Additionally there isn't a rule that questions have to have SQL, but there is often a need to include code (such as SQL) when a question is about writing something in that code. It's not always required, and so users have to determine whether it is needed in order to answer the question before editing/commenting/voting on a question. That is what PolyGeo is referring to with "and I wonder whether I may have been pondering whether that needed to be included"
    – Midavalo Mod
    Jun 15, 2021 at 17:22
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    If a community allows posts like No Thanks DAMN IT! - AND feels the need to remove thanks from posts, that is NOT my kind of community, sorry. I thought the whole day about this but this is really shocking to me. I have used forums on the internet since 1984 and I have not once seen any community that behaves this way. To me, that is snobbish, arrogant and disrespectful and definitely inpolite. Therefore, I thank again those who did help me on my two questions and I delete my account now if that is even possible.
    – user184042
    Jun 15, 2021 at 22:14
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    This bit.... "Stack Overflow, as a Q&A site, strives to be a technical resource akin to encyclopedias. That writing style that makes it useful as a technical resource precludes pleasantries and formalities." should be plastered all over the site to remind people of the intent of SE/SO. Not just with formalities, but question asking/answering in general. Its would setup and reinforce the expectation of users so much better IMHO.
    – nr_aus
    Jun 17, 2021 at 7:37
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    @nr_aus On-boarding of new users to our focused Q&A format can be a challenge, especially if they are more used to discussion forums. We already have the Tour, the Help center and our FAQs to try and ease that transition but, if you have ideas for more that we can do, then please feel free to ask Meta GIS SE questions to suggest them.
    – PolyGeo Mod
    Jun 18, 2021 at 0:06

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