@bufferunderrun I've heard a couple of mods say this now. Nobody else has given what I think is a pretty obvious counterargument, so perhaps I'm missing something obvious.
My main issues with the "reaction" buttons are:
1) I don't like how the forums actually look now. It looks "messy", clashing with the "clean" design of the rest of lichess. The colours are suddenly all over the place, and there are six different "reactions". Compared to a simple "upvote-downvote" system which other sites have, this system looks kind of ridiculous. (I am aware of similar "reaction" interactions on Facebook, but on Facebook it gives you the *option* to view the list of reactions, which is again cleaner and is basically what this thread is asking for.)
2) It interferes with my use of the website. I access lichess on mobile. When I scroll on the forums, I have to drag my finger up and down my screen. When I want the keyboard to go away, I touch the screen somewhere else. It happens quite often that I accidentally "react" to something when I don't want to, which is annoying. It's not a dealbreaker, I'm not going to stop using the site, but it is annoying.
Now, you say "oh, just define your own userstyle in one of these browsers by doing one thing and putting some piece of code here and then you get the option you want."
Here is my counterargument, to which I assume you have a good response: if I have to write code so that your website looks nice and is mobile-friendly, then your website is poorly designed. Moreover, if it's so easy, then why isn't it already an option in user settings? (Also, can I even implement your suggestion on mobile? I haven't tried, but your response certainly sounds very desktop-user-centric.)
I hate to say something like the above about lichess, which is easily one of the best-designed websites I use on a regular basis. Lots of things about lichess are very slick, very user-friendly, and very pragmatic. I'm very sorry if this comment annoyed you.