i was surprised to see the "please give the seeders some love" message on the sites' home page when it appeared because there are a number of original members that have expressed their dislike for people saying "thanks".

personally i like it when people say thanks; i was brought up that way myself.

i like reading the "thank you's" in a thread because there's usually nothing else to read. what i'd really like in the thread is discussion about the torrent. i can see the logic in not saying thanks as soon as you click on the torrent... that kinda translates as: "thanks for putting this up here, even though i don't know if its crap or not"... surely, the significant thanks would come when the downloader had actually seen/heard the torrent and loved it.

comments and discussion regarding the downloaded, seen/heard torrent would be a richer experience than simply "thanks", of course, but "thanks" is better than nothing... but then again, if a torrent gets 1000 downloads and only maybe 30 thanks, that can be a little deflating.

i hate the "thank you" button over at Tape City... it reduces "thanks" to an emotionless act that is void of all meaning. i always imagine that people just see and click it for the sake of it. i'm glad that TTD does not entertain such a superficial item.

in fact, "thank you buttons" remind me of something my Grandmother used to say to me when i was a very small kid. she would say, "you're not sorry or you wouldn't do it".... meaning, of course, "don't say sorry because you've been taught that saying "sorry" is good manners and therefore an autonomous response that bypasses reasoning, you should say "sorry" because you mean it (because you understand what it means in the direct context of your actions, conscious or otherwise). similarly, saying "thanks" because it's good manners means less than saying "thanks" because the torrent blew your mind.

i love this place.

i'd rather read "thanks" than nothing at all.