no

[Taka]

Which is correct? Or are these both OK but the meaning is a bit different?

There is no clear answer for that kind of question.
There are no clear answers for that kind of question.

[Raymott]

Which is correct? Or are these both OK but the meaning is a bit different?

There is no clear answer for that kind of question.
There are no clear answers for that kind of question.

Your second sentence is not grammatical, so it's not worth discussing. I've amended it to make it correct and useful.
As the sentences stand now, they mean pretty much the same. In fact one implies the other. If there is no answer, there are no answers, and vice versa.
The difference is only in usage. You'd be more inclined to use the former if, assuming there was an answer, it would be a single correct answer.

[Taka]

Your second sentence is not grammatical.

Sorry, I pasted the first one without correcting it when I made it plural. I've fixed it.

[Raymott]

Sorry, I pasted the first one without correcting it when it made it plural. I've fixed it.

Yes, I thought of that as a possibility, and answered the question that I thought you might have been asking. Was my answer of any use to you?

[Taka]

Yes. Thank you!

[Raymott]

Yes. Thank you!

I was trying to suggest discretely that you might like to experiment with the "Like", (previously "Thanks") button, to reassure your respondents that their responses were adequate. You've used it 0 times in 800 posts.

[Taka]

I was trying to suggest discretely that you might like to experiment with the "Like", (previously "Thanks") button, to reassure your respondents that their responses were adequate. You've used it 0 times in 800 posts.

I don't know what other people think, but to me that 'like' is a seal of authenticity. Learners who have happened to dropped by this site may think the posts with 'like(s)' have been confirmed by native speakers and the messages in those posts are THE answers.

As a non-native English learner, I'd like to refrain from using that 'like' to keep this site reliable.

Thanks.

[emsr2d2]

I can see where you're coming from with that view but it does mean that each time you are actually grateful for an answer and it has furthered your understanding or actually completely answered your question, you will end up adding yet another post to a thread just to say, for example, "Thanks, Raymott, that has completely cleared it up for me". I have two issues with that:

- Raymott will need to go back to the thread to see your thanks.

- The rest of us who have subscribed to that thread will get a notification that there is another post/comment in the thread and we will go to read it, thinking that there is further work required. When we get there and find that it's just a "Thanks" message to another user, we have wasted some time.

[5jj]

My 'like' on that last post simply indicated that I agreed with what emsr2d2 wrote. I normally don't add another post to the thread saying 'I agree', for the same reasons ems gave about posts which say 'thank you'.

If you 'like' a post, the person who submitted it will be informed in their Yyour Notifications -New Likes Received' drop-down, and so will know.

It is a nice thought when someone takes the trouble to write 'thank you', but, as ems noted, it does makes everybody else think that there is something new in the thread.

As to your other point, "but to me that 'like' is a seal of authenticity", I don't think there is much danger of that. Regular visitors to the site know which people regularly give reliable answers; if a couple of those people 'like' a post, it is probably accurate. If zzbraindeadlol, who claims to be a native speaker of Latin, living in Aaland, and who has posted only 7 messages, likes a post, nobody will really believe that that can be relied on as a sign of an accurate answer.

Several of the moderators, and several of the senior* members read all the posts in the 'Ask a Teacher' forum very regularly. If any inaccurate post, 'liked' or not is submitted, we soon discover and correct it.

*By 'senior', I mean people who have been around some time, and who are known to be reliable. You may have spotted a couple of them in this thread already.