Holy fuck if it's a meaningless feature why would you care who thanks you or others? would you rather have threads clogged by shit posters going ^this repeatedly to the post above them. You can't say that it empirically motivates the "wrong" kind of user you have no fucking metric for that you also can't claim it has such a horrible impact while also saying thanks are meaningless, people like you are the ones making a big deal about them.
Because I don't think websites like this should be a popularity contest, nor should it be about seeking some kind of social validation or even acceptance. That was a strong core part of Totse itself..."going against the grain". I'm not looking for posters that are agreeable or even well liked, I would rather mingle with a bunch of people that have the intellect and enough sauce in their step to stand by their perceptions/opinions and to hell with whatever anyone else thinks (including myself). The kind of person who IRL has enough fortitude to stand up in a room full of people and say "I don't agree with ANY of you and here is why....." and then proceed to give a well thought out argument that nobody else has brought up yet before.
And yeah, when you have a small herd of people thinking/acting alike with such an obvious group mentality...it can ruin the vibe of some forums. By the end of Zoklet, you couldn't even go into the Conspiracy or Religious forums, because it was filled with trolls just jumping on any new or different opinion. Someone makes a thread..."I believe in aliens because....". And then someone says, "herp derp, you are just a kook" or some other grade school insult. 5 or 6 people jump on that post and thank the troll, how is that inciting sincere discourse about the subject matter?
Most importantly in that scenario, if someone NEW comes here and discovers the Conspiracy forum, what will they walk away thinking? "Well, I can't talk about aliens on this website, because the communal attitude is just to act the fool and shoot down other people's experiences by childish naysayers". They then logout and never return because of these silly antics, and we probably lost a great mind, a great poster, and great ideas....all because people don't want to be subjected to what appears on the surface as childish trolling and stupid antics.
Again, this isn't so much about the CURRENT posters, but the ones you are looking to attract tomorrow, next month, next year. And if you have a bunch of spastic children just piggy-backing each other's fail flames and 4-channing one-liners, then that is EXACTLY the kind of poster you'll attract and retain in the years to come.
Just like on Zoklet.....