I just got a fave, so I went over to the kind person's page and left a thank-you note about the deviation in question, like I have in the past.
It had been a long while since I was on dA though, so I noticed the link looked different. Instead of a nice tiny little [link] it was now all big and ugly. This made me sad about how the comment looked on the person's front page, so I looked up whether it was bad etiquette to mention the specific deviation you were thanking them about.
What I found wasn't anything to do with links, it was a big list of people who DO NOT WANT TO BE THANKED on their frontpage.
I read through some of these journals, and I thought it made sense. I also have to wade through those comments sometimes and since they're in the same spot as the deviation comments, it can be troublesome. So! I am going to adopt a new policy going forward:
Instead of putting a thank-you on the front page, I'll either Note, drop a llama or a watch or a fave, or etc. I'll find ways to thank without potentially ticking someone off.
...and that's all! See ya around.