Actually it does make a difference. And that is, a newbie saying "great project", "thank you for the great project" etc. is part of a group of spammers / shillers which are interested only in bumping an ANN. In Collectibles board, those expressing their gratitude for a free raffle are not shilling anything; are not spamming; are not forcing to bump the respective topic etc. They are simple people, which were part of a raffle and, being polite in their nature, are expressing their gratitude for being offered the chance to win something.

So, yes, there is a difference between your mentioned newbie and another user from Collectibles board, especially inside a raffle topic. And the difference is huge: one wants to spam the forum, while the other is a polite person. This is the difference.