By "melted therms", I am assuming you mean the body of the thermometer unit.
For both my smokers, I replaced one of the grate bolts with an extension that allows the thermometer body to sit away from the cooker. Don't have a close up, but you can see the extension on both of them:
If your thermometer body is simply using a magnet to keep it in place, you can mount a small shelf (a metal conduit box lid works well) to the bolt and rest your thermometer on that. It will position the shelf/thermo away from the body enough that it will not melt.
The low-tech solution is to have a table close by your WSM and rest the thermometer on the table. I highly recommend having a place to route temp probes into the cooker rather than going through the vent. You can find the materials to do so at ACE, or order the kits from the Cajun Bandit.
Winz