Welcome and thank you for you continued contributions. What you're describing is considered a "Signature" on a post and they are [highly discouraged in Stack Exchange platform](http://askubuntu.com/help/behavior). You're more than welcome to edit your profile page to include "Thank you and as always, God Bless" which everyone will see when they roll over your name or visit your profile. This isn't an attempt to stifle anyone's free speech but simply a rule set forth on this site.

Furthermore, engaging in "edit wars" where you constantly put back something edited out is also discouraged and against site rules. Content on Ask Ubuntu is community managed, like a wiki, which is another reason we don't allow signatures in a post. They are simply noise when we want to promote signal.

Questions are downvoted on a regular basis, there's typically a best practice where we recommend those who do downvote to comment on a reason why. Having questions [downvoted for seemingly no reason is a common "issue"](http://meta.askubuntu.com/search?q=downvoted) on this site. We always recommend re-reading your question and trying to improve with logs, screenshots, or possibly rewording them.

As for your comments about this be a restriction of your American First Amendment Rights, websites are considered private property (at least websites not run by the Government) and as such rules set forth that may stifle or restrict speech is allowed. Violation of this right would be you creating a website and having it shut down, by the American Government (as an American citizen) because of the speech on that. Even that's a bit of a grey area. IANAL but to be honest this has nothing to with "First amendment rights".

We appreciate you adhering to these rules going forward. If you find this unsatisfactory feel free to use the "contact us" link at the bottom to bring this up with the Stack Exchange admins.

---

> it is a 5 word phrase in appreciation for any help others can provide, that is not noise. I guarantee if I was only putting "Thank you" this would not be any issue. Therefore this is classified stifling of beliefs. Pushing these beliefs to an "out-of-sight out-of-mind" area. So yes this is discrimination.

> also Marco, The question I was specifically referring to was worded well and was conversing with a couple individuals on answers, and if I thought they would be helpful, I would include screen shots of me trying those answers and if they worked or didn't work. But the continual editing out of those 2 words "God Bless" kept getting in the way, and shortly after was flagged as "Off-Topic" or "Unclear" when it was obvious what the real reason for flagging it was, as the one who flagged it, was the same one who was constantly editing out those 2 words for HIS own reasons and beliefs. 


Daniel, I appreciate your concern and I understand no one wants to be oppressed and feeling as such can set you on the defensive. While I can't assure you of the motives of every user on this site I would like to take a moment that every user on this site is bound by the Ubuntu Code of Conduct which prohibits such discrimination. I've reviewed the post you hold as evidence of this and do not see that to be the case. Instead, what I see if evidence of one user "cleaning up" a post, in this case yours, which they removed several superfluous sentences, fixed grammar, adjusted spelling and formatting, and removed the byline which seemed to spark this.

Why are there some post with the words "Thank you"? This can probably be attributed to an additional policy we have is to avoid minor edits. Ones which just modify a single word as that again creates noise and unnecessarily bumps a question. I personally have edited plenty of posts which included sentiments of appreciation without any religious subtexts and removed them while improving the rest of the post.

I want to reiterate that the actions you took after this was removed from the post, including your edit moments before commenting, are against the sites policies. Normally this includes being contacted privately and possibly a suspension. Reverting edits and engaging in edit wars are things we take seriously on this site. While it takes two or more to engage in edit war, and those users have been contacted about this conduct, I want to let everyone know that in future if you have an issue with a post, editing and reverting are not the ways to resolve it - meta site is.

Finally, as to your allegations that the post was closed after engaging in the edit war, I can't say what the motivation of that was, you've added a lot more details and I'm about to re-open the post. However, you again seem to be missing the point so I will place this in bold and do let me know if I'm not communicating this clearly.

**1st amendment rights to not apply to you on private sites, which this is one of them. If you can not handle this you may wish to participate elsewhere in the community. Continued edit wars and failure to follow the "no signature" rule will result in further action from the moderation team**.

If you feel you are being oppressed or disagree with this action you may take it up with the Stack Exchange community team or even the Ubuntu Community Council. However, I'm fairly confident this decision will stand. If you wish to add declarations about your appreciation for people's assistance either do so in comments on that answer or in your profile.