I think this would be a nice idea. Thanks isn't the same as merit or activity, it's more of a personal message to the poster.
It isn't worth putting much effort into adding it to the forum, but if it is easy, then I think it would be a useful addition.
I'm with Jet Cash, this is a good idea for me since giving thanks will also reduce people who shit post like " Thankyou for.." and also giving genuine thanks will also make people happy and appreciated and they will continue to strive hard.
The OP stated that "thanks" button will not be same as merit since it will not be a rank requirement i think this would be just work as Token of Appreciation.
+1 to this suggestion if this is not that hard to implement to the forum.
You are pretty delusional if you think a "Thanks" button will stop those users from posting "Thank you". They'll just continue to do so anyway because they need the activity/posts for their signature campaign.
Is there a possibility to add THANKS BUTTON ?
Instead of replying with Thank you, all we need to do is to click that button and we can maximize the essence of our post/activity.
In merit system only member upto higher rank are able to give it but in thanks system all ranks are allowed to give it and the counter for this doesn't matter for our ranking unlike merit.
-1. I think merit is mostly already used this way -- as an expression of gratitude when solving a technical issue for example.
Adding another button for essentially the same function but with no real purpose would just clutter up the forum and confuse people.
I strongly disagree with you on this, merit has nothing to do with "thanks".
Merit are not designed to say thanks or anything like that, they are to distinguish the quality posters and to appreciate good posts by rewarding them because merit can effect the reputation of members on forum.
I don't see how one thing can't correlate with the other. A post can both be the answer to a question and of high quality. If a post like that is rewarded i'd say it is both as a "thank you" for answering the question, and doing so in a constructive matter. Check out
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?board=4.0
Posts: 30936291
Topics: 986251
Members: 1858565
This is the current stats of our forum right now.
30million posts? The implementation of thanks system will also lessen the data consumption into the server that might be cause of slowing down due to surging of new post.
I've seen this features on different forum that I've joined too and it works perfectly. Thanks system also represents on how a member being consistently helping and guiding our fellow members even without any rewards in return.
I don't think you can compare any forum to bitcointalk. The incentive for most user to be here is ( unfortunately ), to make money through signature campaigns. Not to share knowledge or have a good time. Hence all the spam.