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We noticed that in last days the appearance of a useless feature "say thanks for this answer" ONLY on Stack Overflow.

Image of say thanks feature

I do believe that it shouldn't be available even in SO, but for curiosity, I am just wondering why this feature isn't on all sites of Stack Exchange?

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11
  • 16
    I downvote because I don't want this feature on other sites.
    – Shadow Wizard
    Commented Jun 22, 2020 at 13:37
  • 3
    @Shadow That's not really how I read the question, and not how I answered it... but if that's true Bashir should probably edit and make it clear that my answer is wrong ;)
    – Tinkeringbell Mod
    Commented Jun 22, 2020 at 13:38
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    @Tink when my kids ask "Why there's no milk?!" it's implied they want milk. That's how I read it here too.
    – Shadow Wizard
    Commented Jun 22, 2020 at 13:39
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    @Shadow I'm taking it the latest edit proves it's only curiosity as to the differences, not arguing for/against it :) Kids can see milk at other people's places and ask why there's no milk at theirs, without wanting it :P I asked my mom plenty of times why we never eat sprouts...
    – Tinkeringbell Mod
    Commented Jun 22, 2020 at 13:41
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    well I am just asking "why", I find this feature useless but I am wondering why it is only in SO and the answer was quite clear
    – Bashir
    Commented Jun 22, 2020 at 13:43
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    @Tinkeringbell well, the question might become "better" by changing to something like "Why some features are available only on Stack Overflow?", maybe bringing some examples. But when it focus on a single specific feature... hard to not think it's also asking to bring that feature to whole SE.
    – Shadow Wizard
    Commented Jun 22, 2020 at 13:44
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    @ShadowWizardWearingMask This is a well-worded request for factual information. Downvoting it because you disagree with your assumption of the author's opinion is imprudent.
    – Sonic the Anonymous Hedgehog
    Commented Jun 22, 2020 at 13:45
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    @Shadow you have an edit button too, I seem to recall ;-) But I don't mind focusing on this one only, this one has it's own post and help center article to quote, a list of examples probably doesn't have that.
    – Tinkeringbell Mod
    Commented Jun 22, 2020 at 13:46
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    To other downvoters: I get it, you disagree that this should be implemented on the other sites. But this question is explicitly not asking for that; it's simply asking why SE chose not to implement it on the other sites.
    – Sonic the Anonymous Hedgehog
    Commented Jun 22, 2020 at 14:09
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    well after all this clarifications, I guess now downvoting means disagreeing with what's written in my question: I do believe that it shouldn't be available even in SO
    – Bashir
    Commented Jun 22, 2020 at 14:24
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    I'm downvote because it shows low effort in looking at other new features added recently - they get done only on SO because it's difficult to implement selectively for more than one and have that data be useful, and because SO is the biggest site in the network by far.
    – Nij
    Commented Jun 23, 2020 at 8:51

1 Answer 1

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Because it is a feature test, like the post on meta.SO says: Feature test: Thank you reaction

From the help center page on reactions (emphasis mine):

Reactions are a new way of interacting with a post that we're currently testing on Stack Overflow.

They're testing first on SO, will gather data, and then decide what to do next:

We’ll be monitoring usage and other data over the next month and will use those results to inform how we may move forward with this experiment.

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4
  • but is it a test of the feature itself or an A/B test of clapping hands vs praying hands and there is no way to avoid it? (which is how I read the linked post - could be wrong..... hope I'm wrong)
    – LinkBerest - SO sold our work
    Commented Jun 23, 2020 at 0:14
  • @LinkBerest good point. I didn't read it that way, but I can't find any confirmation anywhere that confirms the original wording of this post... I've edited it to make it more ambiguous.
    – Tinkeringbell Mod
    Commented Jun 23, 2020 at 8:13
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    Thanks, there's at least two comment directly asking CMs whether this will be able to be rolled back to the no thanks state (one with a non-answer, the second very direct question has no answer) so its still a muddy issue at this point.
    – LinkBerest - SO sold our work
    Commented Jun 23, 2020 at 13:36
  • They added a new post with more explanation. Still not clear on if this feature is avoidable but they are turning it off after the AB while they analyze the data
    – LinkBerest - SO sold our work
    Commented Jul 4, 2020 at 12:18

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