I see questions as a gift to the community. Answerers should be thanking questioners, not the other way around. And they do, when they appreciate a question. I see questions as belonging to the answerers, not to the questioners. I know some people here think the questions belong to the questioner and the questioner gets to guard it jealously, but I think that’s not a good community building way to go about it, and my concern is community building, not answering questions.
So for me, questions are a service for answerers. They provide answerers with an opportunity to reflect on or investigate various issues. They allow answerers to express themselves.
The questioner is least among us, and that is reflected in the relative value of lurve for questions and answers. Answers get more points from a GA than questions get from a GQ. And both run out after a while, so you can only give 100 points from lurve to anyone.
Indeed, the only points that never run out are those for showing up. You can get one point a day for showing up many days in a row. That shows you that the site rewards community more than anything else. It rewards participation, and participation in answers most of all.
So it is inappropriate for questioners to thank answerers. It should be the other way around. Of course, that’s just following the format of the website. Obviously when people are polite and kind, they thank people no matter what.
So thank you @Shippy, for asking this question. You are a boon to the community. I hope you understand that.