title: What is the right technology for this scenario?
body: <p>I am currently programming a community forum and i have a scenario where a user can say 
  <em>thank you</em> to a specific post by clicking a button</p>
  
  <p>that button should trigger multiple sequences checking things with mysql databases and such but i cannot think of an effective way to load/initiate a separate php file without leaving the page, or needing to refresh it.</p>
  
  <p>i can use javascript to give the impression that your click went thru and was properly processed without needing to refresh the page,but i cannot use javascript to run mysql queries or something of that kind.</p>
  
  <p>so what exacly can i do here?</p>
  
  <p>this is very similar to pressing "upvote/downvote" on StackOverflow since its instant and doesnt require reloading of the page.. so what is SO using for example to achieve this?</p>
  
  <p><strong>additional information</strong>: i cannot make the server load the php file or something of that sort because i need the user session for it to work!</p>
  
  <p>thank you alot for your help.</p>