At one time when a new thread was created, one of several icons were optionally available and they now appear to be withdrawn.

comments on why? (clutter, distracting, misleading, ...)

I ditched them last week just because they were severly under used and like you said only created clutter more than anything else. In case you haven't noticed I actually updated a few different things on the forum like fonts sizes and faces which I think make for a more subtle and elegant look and straightforward read :)