In order to have any privileges whatsoever on SO, you need some rep points. You're supposed to get points by writing good questions and answers, but that's hard

In order to have any privileges whatsoever on SO, you need some rep points. You're supposed to get points by writing good questions and answers, but that's hard - and gets harder every day, as the good questions have mostly been asked already. One of the easiest ways to get rep points is to propose edits that later get accepted. "Cleaning up the site" is thus encouraged. That's probably how your "Thanks" got removed.