So don’t do it like that.
Not that it’s possible, but I’d love an “I see what you did there” button.
Hell, I’m still waiting for the Cite? button to be added… SoulFrost, Rhythmdvl, and 328 other users would like a cite.
It’s already a huge popularity contest vibe at the SDMB, but that only matters to those that feel the need to be liked or popular, so it’s a non-issue.
I have to admit that I have some kind of urge to express it when I really love a post or find it really funny. I just feel compelled to say, “haha” or “you are cracking me up” or whatever.
I know it has to be annoying, but I can’t stop doing it. Maybe a thumbs up button wouldn’t be so bad.
I likewise will always post if someone says something hilarious, though usually I have something to add to the thread as well–if only to not be off topic. But on those occasions where I don’t, I wouldn’t see the harm, as long as there is no running total.
That said, on YouTube and the like, I’m usually just voting down a racist comment, or up something that was previously downed, and I cannot possibly conceive it as being bad.
I was supposed to enter a work-related competition last year. It was quite interesting, prizes were brilliant, but…
…you were supposed to present your work in FB. No, I did not make me an account - so I was out before it even started. I cannot imagine hairy, middle aged men giving likes and dislikes to each other. If you don’t have friends, you don’t need FB - if you do have friends, FB just interferes with your work.
By the way, are there SD support groups?
Bwahaha, komolono, so if they weren’t hairy, it would be okay? 
That made me laugh.
I wasn’t thinking public scorecard, more like an insta-PM that just consisted of a quick thumbs-up or somesuch. Just 'cause it’s fun to give (and receive) attaboys.
I want to weigh in vehemently against implementing VBulletin’s “reputation” feature, or any other similar hack. Though in concept it is a good idea, in practice it is very easily abused, and the abuse, by even a very few people, is enough to put major strain on the server. Imagine, if yuou will, a “Reps Club” in MPSIMS, where every time you make a post you’re honorbound to rep the previous ten Dopers to post there. Suddenly the server is keeping track of astronomical numbers varying with every post made. If it were used for the original intent – “Qadgop, Bricker, thank you for that lucid explanation” or “Shodan, Elucidator, thank you for laying that smackdown on someone who richly deserved it” or “Sampiro, Scylla, that was a hilarious bit of storytelling; thanks” then it would be just fine. But, sure as Cecil is wise, I can guarantee it won’t be. And it will burden the servers.
I’ve always loved the pared-down, no-frills setup of the SDMB. Muted colors, no images, and best of all none of that flashing or animation crap. Keeping the focus squarely and purely on the verbal communication. I think this visually restrained style is best suited to the distinctly cerebral character of this community. As a bonus, it keeps clutter down to a minimum, it’s very neat. Another bonus, the SDMB is lightweight and never slows down my computer by trying to load a ton of extraneous software like some places I could name.
Fessie, adding a “like” button wouldn’t actually interfere with this essential neatness, so I’m not in any way implying that your suggestion would degrade it or anything, per se. It’s just that as a rule I support the tradition here of being very conservative about making any changes to the format without long, careful consideration first.
Facebook is a community that constantly throws information overload in your face. It’s part of the fun and excitement of that site, and the “like” button is convenient there because stuff keeps coming at you so quickly. The like button is a simple, elegant solution that, as you said, lets people acknowledge each other on the fly, in a hurry. By contrast, I like to experience the SDMB as a place that lets you slow down, take in stuff at your own pace, and have time to think about it. Maybe it would be more in keeping with the SDMB’s traditional character to take an extra 60 seconds to compose a brief post to state why you like what someone said, as a less-hurried way of accomplishing the same function as the like button, and with more actual cerebral content to boot. And the format here encourages more two-way discussions with more content; it encourages us to think over what we’re saying and provide reasons for what we think. Less automation, more human touch, making for more fullness and depth of communication, is how I see it.
Ohhhh… somebody’s been to christianforums.
I was not going to be explicit about where I formed my negative views of reputation, but visit here. Check out any active forum – some of the ones under Theology and Society would be informative. Note the reputation displayed by members, even myself. (Note: this is not negative against CF in the sense of instigating a board war – after SoulFrost spilled the beans, I’m simply pointing to it as an example of what a bad choice on a request similar to this one led to. CF’s database crashes regularly owing to “features” – and because it’s called on to retrieve an insane amount of information for every member with each individual post.)
A ‘like’ button would be nice, but I really just want to poke people.
Tout suite
As soon as you change your name to Autopocus.
Yeah but then I’d just be poking myself 
There’s a “nominate” button over on JREF. I’m not exactly sure what it does, as I’ve never used it.
I doubt we’d ever get anything like that here, although I was recently reading a board that had a bunch of these and they seemed vaguely interesting/amusing.
Here is another thread, on a forum, that uses a bunch of them. As you can see, users can do a bunch of things for each specific post…including things like groaning, agreeing, laughing at, or liking.