For the record: My area is math, I had served as a managing editor for 3 journals, currently just for one. I also edited proceedings of several conferences.

As an editor/referee I pay very little attention to acknowledgements when evaluating a paper (with one exception that I discuss below). As an editor, I either know the specific research area of the paper well enough to evaluate if it is at the level of the journal after a quick look through it (which includes eliminating crockpot papers) or I ask for an "expert quick opinion" instead.

Now, for the exception. In general, I prefer to receive a quick opinion or a referee report from a person who is not too close to the author(s) of the paper, to ensure impartiality. If the author thanks all three main experts in the area, my job, as an editor, becomes more difficult.

For the record: My area is math, I had served as a managing editor for 3 journals, currently just for one. I also edited proceedings of several conferences.

As an editor/referee I pay very little/no attention to acknowledgements when evaluating a paper (with one exception that I discuss below). As an editor, I either know the specific research area of the paper well enough to evaluate if it is at the level of the journal after a quick look through it (which includes eliminating crockpot papers) or I ask for an "expert quick opinion" instead.

Now, for the exception. In general, I prefer to receive a quick opinion or a referee report from a person who is not too close to the author(s) of the paper, to ensure impartiality. If the author thanks all three main experts in the area, my job, as an editor, becomes more difficult.