Ian is the IT tech. He is concerned with taking up large amounts of the space in the feed on the home page with polite nothings. Each of those posts push the actual content further down so people can't see it. And he's a bit of both control freak and perfectionist .
If you want to thank someone or do the equivalent of 'like' on FB, give them a + on their karma score. Don't do a thousand polite nothings.
If you want to actually talk, then use the 'respond' button. I request you remember to put in blank lines because I have visual issues [old age related] and it makes it easier for me to read it.