Looks like it might be a way to make it easier for people to find discussions that they want to follow.  When I hovered over the star it said "follow this discussion"  did the same for the thumbs down and it said "ignore this discussion".  CCed this to the higher ups for their explanation.

Oh! I hadn't noticed those before either. But I like that "thumbs down" because there really are a few in here I would ike to ignore.

Hear, Hear!!

I just clicked on the star and a box pops up giving you options of when you want to be notified when new messages are added to the discussion.  When I clicked on the thumbs down it asked if I really wanted to ignore the discussion.

:)

Yup - nice feature and it was THIS forums requests for it that got in set up.

Following a discussion will send you an email when there are additional posts in it. You can choose how often you'd like to receive those notifications.

Not Quite Normal (Kidmagnet) said:

and it was THIS forums requests for it that got in set up.

Yea!! And I remember requesting that. It's so nice to see they listened.

Thank You!!

Well look at us making a difference!

Hi everyone, 

Thanks for all the replies. So pleased I asked, what they were for.

Take care.

Tracy - consortium