The thanks button

[GAMEchief]

I don't understand why people just can't press the Sherrif's Star-looking button at the bottom of every post, then click "I approve", and then click OK to add to a person's rep. Why do they need some other, just-as-findable button to do it?

On top of rep limits (which should be severely decreased), rep isn't public like thanks. That's the only benefit I can really think of, though.