Is it really that hard to say thank you?

[thistlebloom]

Overall I think the members here are a pretty polite and helpful group of gardeners. When we have questions, they are usually answered quickly.
So it makes me wonder, when someone asks for help, and an answer is offered then nothing is heard back from the OP about their question. Were the answers helpful to them? Or did they find a completely different solution elsewhere?
I would be interested in seeing a response about the particular issue if it was resolved. Or if there was an answer that wasn't covered here, what the answer was for educations sake.
Plus, I just think it's common courtesy to at least thank those who offered help with a thank you. You know, acknowledging other actual humans offering assistance to someone in need.

 

[flowerbug]

it's nice to be thanked, but not requred IMO. if i had a choice between someone writing a post with content and one saying thank you i'd take the former over the latter.

 

[seedcorn]

I’m always curious if the solution or variety worked or not.

 

[thistlebloom]

it's nice to be thanked, but not requred IMO. if i had a choice between someone writing a post with content and one saying thank you i'd take the former over the latter.

Not like it's an either/or situation. Especially since most of the traffic here is conversational, not strictly educational "content".

Anyway, a posted thank you is content of a very good kind.
I don't know about anybody else, but I like to thank the grocery store clerk, the mail lady when I see her delivering to my mail box, my neighbors for a nice thing they've done recently, my kids when they send me a funny text or picture, my husband when he refills my ice tea without being asked. All simple things, but a nice human to human acknowledgement that I don't take them for granted. It costs nothing to be polite.

 

[digitS']

I say "Thank you," when someone wishes me a good day. Since, I can't usually hear comments that aren't directed to me, I don't know if it is common, proper or polite.

Since it dates from post-60's, I'm not inclined to express a "have a nice day."

Can you dig it?

Steve

 

[baymule]

I agree @thistlebloom. Manners cost nothing to use, saying thank you is the polite thing to do. I often wonder about what happened when someone posts asking for help, and you never hear from them again.

 

[seedcorn]

Have to ask, who tied a knot in your tail?

I agree that it is interesting to know IF answers helped and which ones but I never worried about “thank you’s“ on website. In life (especially now) I go out of my way to say something nice to people. (Pea pickers are an exception). Trying to emulate my neighbor who is now dead, in waving like a mad man when I see someone or anyone driving down our road. Love the looks......

 

[flowerbug]

to me there's a lot of contextual differences between someone i live with and a random stranger. friends fall somewhere in between.

internet forums are a different context to me so i won't behave the same anyways. since i have the choice about interacting here that prevents a lot of what i would consider an annoyance if it were in person. i certainly have no expectation of ever being thanked.

 

[Beekissed]

I agree with Thistle...it's just common courtesy to give feedback on help one has asked for and gotten answers for. I have a feeling it's just people who have asked MANY people for help and don't even remember who they asked, so likely forgot to return to that site to give feedback.

Think about it...a person has asked complete strangers to take time out of their day to help them. Now, sometimes the answers are not right there at one's fingertips, so often one does research and posts links for this person in need. They took time~one of the most valuable commodities one has in this life~and given it freely to a stranger without any expectations of reward for doing so. When you give someone your time, you are taking it from someone or something else you normally give it to in this life, so it's no small thing to give time away.

So, when that person casually tosses your help to the side, as if it didn't cost you anything to give it, you have to wonder how they can be so careless? There's been times when I have written a whole page of useful information for an OP, information that I've spent a lifetime to learn about a particular subject of which I have first hand experience, only to never know if the person tried it, if it worked for them, did it even help them? Was my time wasted and were my pearls of hard won knowledge tossed in front of a swine? It's that never knowing what came of the bread you tossed onto the waters that makes one reluctant to spend that much time helping again.

I don't require thanks....but a little courtesy feedback goes a long way towards letting one know if what they've done to help actually helped. If it didn't, why take the time to offer it again?

 

[thistlebloom]

Have to ask, who tied a knot in your tail?

Hahaha! Well, that will remain anonymous.
There seems to be a general drift toward self absorption. And it's just been on my mind lately. "From the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks".

I don't see a difference between thanking someone I know, and someone I don't. I think behavior should be the same wherever you are, whether it's behind a computer wall or out in the open in person. That's just my opinion.