Hi 
I think this is a nice idea. Most people on these mailing list
already do quite a lot of work and are under-appreciated. It would be
nice to see this idea formally extended to cover all the non-devs who
do fantastic work in 'User' / Client Support, Documentation,
Translation.
I think that is the intention but (as just about always) we once again
get ignored and undervalued when it comes to direct comments and
mentions. So i think just see all the thanks as being at least partly
directed at each of you too! You all do a fantastic job, even the
lurkers on these lists are often doing a lot outside of the mailing
lists.
On the plus side i guess we do get thanks from individuals probably
more often than devs do and we are not always dealing with grumbles so
maybe this sort of thing is meant to help redress that imbalance 
Many thanks to everyone for helping make LibreOffice what it is today.
Fantastic job! :))))
Many thanks and regards from
Tom