Point of fact, my last few posts have had the highest traffic and the most comments of any of the posts on this blog in months. I’ve polarized opinion, and given lots of people the opportunity to put theirs across.

If it bothers you that much then don’t read it.

-Thanks for what
-You can stick your em-dash up your dot dot dot
-You guys all suck
-You’re Fat and I Hate You
-A collection is not an array

Loser.

Anyway, online social interaction is a cornerstone of the industry. It’s entirely on topic to examine online social conventions. If it’s not an area of the industry that interests you, just move on to the next post!

I’m assuming you wanted people to think, “Oooh, I never thought of it like that before.”

There’s a reason nobody thought of it like that before.

surely you jest, kind sir!!! you are either a troll, and a kind i have never seen before because you’re writing this here, on a blog; or a fool who has no notion of netiquete… either way i feel trolled but i’ll play along.

when someone posts a question or something that implies a reply and finishes it off with thanks in advance is being nothing more than polite. i mean, seriously… are you for real???

let’s look at what you said it could be:

* This is just what people say (meaningless)
* even if it is something people just say, it’s not meaningles, it’s polite!!!

* I’m assuming that you’re going to help me, therefore I’m thanking you now (presumptuous)
* I’m thanking you now so as soon as I get an answer I can forget about this thread (lazy, ungrateful)
* these trains of thought are just dumb, I won’t even bother…

* I’m not sure if you’re going to help me, so saying thanks now will encourage you to do so, because I’ve already thanked you (emotional blackmail)
* you don’t really know people used to this kind of interaction around the internets, do you? I’ll clarify: people who tend to help do it for the kicks saying this shit won’t change their tendency to help you. nor will it change the attitude of the hardasses who just ignore help posts by looking at the title. like anyone would think “hey this guy thanked in advance. darn, know i must help him!!!”, while on the other end of the internet some other guys laughs it up like a villain.

i write “thanks in advance” every time i ask a question over the web and it always means - and i suppose _everyone_ knows that (yes, even you, you big troll) - “thanks for taking the time to read this stupid-ass question, i really hope you can help me out.” and that’s nothing more than polite and humble. but hey you’re asking for a favour so you better be polite and humble within…

I stand by my original comment; this is not a post that fits into the category of web tech and furthermore is not the kind of post I have come to expect from Sitepoint. I made my comment direct and to the point, it was not uncivil and was nowhere near hostile especially when held up to the content of the original post.

Force Flow says it best, but I’ll add that when I use it, it’s a promise of gratitude for any effort you take in thinking about my query. It doesn’t matter if you can help, or even if you reply, I’m appreciative of you taking the time to get that far and I’ll be polite enough to say so.

More fool anyone who finds that annoying.