Nice post, koolgirl. Perlmonks is indeed an incredible resource.

Of course the other way to thank people who answer questions is to vote for their replies -- it can serve as a quick way of thanking people when a 'thank you' reply would be overkill.

The ability to reward with votes the people who respond to your question is probably one of the reasons why Perlmonks is a success.

This was mentioned several times in the comments to the recent Why does PerlMonks rock? meditation.