If you want to thank someone on these forums after they or several others have helped you answer your question, is it appropriate to thank them on that thread or send them a PM? I don't want to use valuable thread space which could be used to help someone. Just curious. Thanks.

I don't think it really matters how you show your appreciation, it's just nice to be thanked.

I agree eiether way is fine, it is always nice to receive words of thanks.

But if I may... the public posting would help towards the assistance of others that
could be experiencing similar problems. Acknowledgement and a thank you, shows that the
issue has been resolved. And the trouble shooting suggestions could be looked into.

Plus it just makes BC look good.

Either way is more than acceptable. A brief "thank you" posted in reply to the thread is certainly thread space well-used (and not often enough for that courteous purpose, alas!) and I know deeply appreciated by everyone who has given of their free time to help you.
Regards,
John

When I thank people, I try to give reasons why and add to the thread when I can. Even just a simple "thank you" helps, it means you found it useful and bumps it back to the tops for other to read, who may also find that information useful.

On other forums, I've see a feature where a user can click a "Thank You" button and it add to a post directly after the original, showing the usernames and number of people who sad Thank You. This may come in handy, but it sort of defeats the purpose I gave in the first half of my post.

Yeah, whenever i get help i usually post a "thanx" post in the thread i was having problems.

I also describe what exactly helped me. If there was a specific action in, say, 4 or 5 replies to my problem, i post which one worked for me. That way people w/ the same problem know how to deal with it. However, i DO thank everyone that took their time to try and help me.