total vs earned thanks?

I would get rid of the thanks total.

That total seems meaningless to me considering all the people who thank pretty much every post made by all the people they know, whether that post is useful/thoughtful/intelligent/helpful (or more often) none of the above.

I think the ability to thank a post is good as it shows appreciation for someones time and thoughtfulness. But why the need to total it up? This turns into a competition on every forum that has such a feature.

I would much rather have just the thanks/unthanks or agree/disagree buttons for each post. Even better than the unthanks/disagree would be if people could write a constructive and reasoned comment as to why they disagree, but with many people here that is asking a lot.