Wow! I just came in to vote on this and thought for sure people would love the thanks button! I'm even more surprised to see that people want it removed though as it's not like everyone's required to use it just because it's there.

It never dawned on me that people would post little things just to 'up' their 'level' and I don't really care if people do that. I also don't really care if 'thanks' posts are counted or not but I lean toward not counting them because in my own mind, my most contributing posts are the only ones that really count anyway.

I like the button idea because sometimes when I see some really good advice, I like to acknowledge the contribution but don't have enough of my own information to contribute to the discussion. However, I still want to say 'thanks' because the information they posted is good enough to guide me in my next bit of 'research' to try and find some more answers for myself/my family.

Also, it's a nice big time saver whilst still allowing me to be supportive of valuable/contributing members who are posting outstanding information... esp. if it's a new thread and it seems like no one is acknowledging the contribution.

I think that's about all I thought on it... Oh, I really like the cute new graphics for hugs. I also had a great chuckle when I saw all the other little 'characters' that were posted on this thread... They were cute enough that I had to call the whole family over to see and so we all laughed well tonight... So, thanks for that from all of us here, ages 7 to 40.