Currently color stars that are removed from entries (such as Flipnotes and comments) are credited back to user accounts and can be reused. After 3/30/2012 color stars that have been removed from entries can no longer be reused.
The reason for this change is to prevent color stars from being used in ways other than their original intended purposes. There have been some problems in our community with people adding and removing color stars from entries for malicious reasons which has devalued the rarity of these types of stars. We at Hatena believe that this change in the way color stars work is better suited to the way we want color stars to be used in our online community.
This change may cause you to take extra care when using your color stars, but we hope that you can better appreciate the difference of using and receiving these types of stars from now on. We believe that this change will reinforce the positive meaning color stars have and allow them to be used appropriately.
To prevent accidental use of your color stars, starting from 3/30/2012 a confirmation dialog box will appear when you add a color stars to an entry on the Hatena website (for PC users only).
If you have any questions or concerns about this change, please contact our support department at support@hatena.com.
We look forward to your continued enjoyment of Hatena's online services.
