At XDA, we have a large number of users that work tirelessly to provide the community with great ROMs, software, advice, and support, and they often do it asking nothing in return except for the occasional donation. Often times it's reasonable to add a "thanks" in a reply if someone did great work. Trouble is, posts that say "thanks" can quickly clog up a thread and detract from the more in-depth conversation that is going on.

Today we’ve rolled out an interesting new feature on the XDA Forums: the Thanks button, and the Thanks meter. Allow us to explain how it works. Quite simply, if you appreciate someone’s post, give them a Thanks by using the button near Quote. Each user is limited to five Thanks per day (so that after five Thanks, you won’t see any more Thanks buttons until the next day), and you cannot undo a Thanks, so only reserve your Thanks for when you really mean it. There are several features in place to prevent people from taking advantage of the system (for example, you cannot Thanks yourself).

Then, the Thanks meter, placed above the avatar, keeps a count of how many times a user has been Thanked. The meter gets more difficult to increase as it gets shaded in. For example, to go from 1 to 2 thanks "bars" is much more easy than going from 2 to 3 bars. To achieve 10/10 bars, you must be thanked 10,000 times. We might adjust this scale, but we have the feeling that some XDA members might get to 10 bars in just a few months.

We're not yet sure exactly how the system will work, and there will definitely be kinks to work out. We'll be keeping a close eye on how people use the system, and of course, send a PM to the User Experience Admin, svetius, at any time, should you have feedback.

Happy posting!