Hello,
First of all I don’t really get the actual meaning of “please”. I understand it as it used to make a polite request. However I have rarely seen any westerner saying “please” on either Lemmy, Mastodon or IRC. where I live using “please” (मेहरबानी) is used often.
I say it often in my day to day life. I don’t use it much on Lemmy because I rarely ask anyone to do anything on here
There’s rarely a use for it online. It’s used to make a request, and a lot of online discourse is making statements.
Irl, it’s a lot more common
We say it out loud a lot. People seem to remember to be polite when not anonymous.
“Please” is used more in verbal or formal communication in English. I wouldn’t typically use it when writing a comment here as online comment sections are considered informal written communication. But I would always say it if I was asking a food service worker for something.
“Please” is short for “if it pleases you” or “if you please”. It’s used to turn a command into a request. It’s probably not used on Lemmy, etc. because we’re not requesting things of each other a lot.