[Bit]

I think the thanks button gets used more like the "like" button on facebook, yanno? People have been thanked for posts that were funny or positive or deeply sharing, as well as posts that were informational.

I don't know what I think about it. I haven't seen it being divisive, although I see Bent's point about thanking a Mod. It might be useful to disable the thanks button for "moderating-function" posts.... although if you disabled it permanently on Dusa, I would be quite unhappy! It's nice especially to be able to thank her when she explains or announces things...

What if instead of disabling it, you just made the thanks private, like reps are private? Then it wouldn't dogpile anybody, it wouldn't be divisive in any way, and it wouldn't impede the flow of the threads.