I'm glad to see that people are concerned about post quality. If there was no concern, then we would be hosed.
Sorry for comparing everything to Facebook, but it is a good reference for this. I think about myself and how I interact with people on Facebook. Though it seems shallow to admit it, since Facebook uses 'likes,' I now always think about how many likes I might get by my peers when I post something.
Pro: It encourages me to post things that are pleasing to the community, thus keeping them interested and engaged.
Con: It limits what I feel is acceptable to say.
That is the great thing about a place like this. Here, we can and do say anything we want with no fear of being shunned by our peers. That is, of course, largely due to the shroud of anonymity and the disconnect we have with each other from our real-world reputations, but we have to think about how a 'thanks' system would change that.
Back to Facebook, I notice a lot of people who I have "friended" who post a lot of mindless drivel, however it contains a certain level of wit. A lot of these posts generate a lot of likes. On the flip side, I have seen a lot of well-thought, logically formed, and well-articulated posts that have not generated the same level of acceptance. Is this because of the community of which they choose to be a part? Maybe. But I bet it discourages them from making a ton of controversial, thought-provoking posts because they do not garner the appreciation implied by the load of 'likes' that one gets when he or she posts their little punch line.
So are we like Facebook? No, we are not. I do think that those controversial topics would generate a lot of 'thanks' here. But I think the "shit-posts" would get a lot more, as evident by precedent. Do we want our focus to be on stimulating discussion, or on marketing our message to generate a conditioned response?
I like that Arnox said there would not be a running tally. That takes a lot of implied importance off of it. But people will still keep a rough tally in their mind, and they will notice trends. If someone typed a short essay with several distinctive points with supporting information, and they remember that they only got a fraction of the 'thanks' that someone else got for posting a singular fragmented racial remark, then what is the motivation? This place is not a blog or a journal. We do not post here just for ourselves. We post here to engage in discussions with others. When the discussion stops, then so does the livelihood of the site.
It is up to you to decide how to keep the discussion alive, and how to rejuvenate it. Well, it's really up to Arnox, but it's up to you to decide how to apply influence. After all, he is here to engage in discussion with you in ways that cannot be done elsewhere. That is our unique value proposition.