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https://webapps.stackexchange.com/posts/55192/revisions

The above link shows that someone edited my question almost 2 years after its initial posting just to remove "Thanks in advance!" While I realize (now) that putting thanks into the question is not in line with the usual etiquette of this group, it really seems unnecessary to go in and edit it out, especially after so much time has passed. To me it just seems like someone is just editing for the sake of editing to get a few reputation points. Does that edit really improve the site?

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  • Just curious... how did you know it was edited?
    – MrWhite
    Commented Nov 18, 2015 at 22:08
  • @w3d I got a notification in my stack exchange inbox.
    – PurpleVermont
    Commented Nov 19, 2015 at 23:37

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I ran across the question while looking for something else and noticed the extraneous text. Since there didn't seem to be anything else wrong with the post that's all I changed.

Believe me, I am long past the time when I get reputation points for (suggested) edits. When I edit it's to improve the site.

(To clarify, you can gain a maximum of 1000 reputation from accepted suggested edits. However, once you reach 2000 reputation points your edits on posts are no longer subject to review. Once you reach 20,000 reputation points your edits to tag wikis are no longer subject to review. Edits that are not reviewed do not gain you any reputation. As you can see I'm far beyond both limits.)

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  • Could you explain how your edit improves the site? Or on the flip side, how a question that is a little too polite is considered harmful?
    – PurpleVermont
    Commented Nov 15, 2015 at 2:42
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    Because adding "thanks" and other extraneous bits is expressly proscribed. See the help center. We're trying to build a repository for knowledge. Wikipedia wouldn't ever allow chit-chat in their articles, for instance. This topic has also been discussed at Meta Stack Exchange ad nauseum. For instance: Should 'Hi', 'thanks,' taglines, and salutations be removed from posts? If you really dislike it, however, you can always roll back the change. Just don't be surprised if someone else takes it out.
    – ale
    Commented Nov 15, 2015 at 3:50

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