Ending a note with “Thanks regardless”?

Question

While wanting to properly close a question and thank its participants on one of StackExchange's other sites–the question had resolved itself–I started wondering if "Thanks regardless" is a proper way to end such a note.

Also, feel free to correct me on any errors in the grammar or spelling of this question itself.

Answer 1

I'm not sure what "thanks regardless" is supposed to mean.

• Thank you, regardless of whether you can help me [in the future]: the better way to say this is "Thank you in advance" or "Thanks in advance"; but given that that's what you wrote at the end of your question, it seems you believe "thanks regardless" means something else.

• Thanks anyway: this would definitely not be an appropriate close to a message. You would use it if someone had just said "no" to a request, and you wanted to be polite (or wanted to appear to be polite).

Edit: thanks for the link. I've looked at the query which prompted this question, and given that context (asking a question and then finding out something which makes it moot) I actually think "thanks regardless" is an OK phrase - as in, it's grammatical and it makes sense. However, I think Remou's suggestion of "Thanks for all the replies" is more polite.

_{[Note that Stack Exchange etiquette doesn't require, and possibly even frowns upon, conversational noise such as "Thanks in advance".]}

Answer 2

There are three pieces in that context that make "Thanks regardless" appropriate:

1. The poster was asking for assistance.
2. Those who posted answers were offering assistance.
3. The resolution to the problem came without the assistance of those who posted answers.

Thus, the poster was expressing gratitude for the answers being offered regardless of the fact that they did not lead to a solution to the problem.