The "Thanks" are a more public pat-on-the-back....whereas rep points are only ever seen by the recipient. "Thanks" is also more of a "one click" feature that folks are more likely to use. And yes...they are appropriate to be used for any post you would just naturally want to say "Thank you" to the person posting it. Whereas the rep system is ideally more suited to those exceptional posts. But many people use it for a variety of different reasons, and that is fine, too, so long as there is no abuse of the negative comments.
That being said...there are no particular restrictions on giving out positive reps and if you like the rep system, then by all means please continue to use it. If you continue to use it, then others will, too.
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