With the thumbs up thumbs down tally, I think we'd get an better idea of what the thoughts are among the people who view the threads but rarely reply. Or in the case of a bonfire conversation it's nice to see if links, pictures, jokes are getting a good response etc.
Instead of having the same vocal experienced people (not that there is anything wrong with that, thanks guys) arguing with the douche who wants to downsize his camera or ignore his canopy on the skydive cause he has less than 200 jumps, it would help to see that 400 people think it's a bad idea and it's not just someone with a green name who thinks there a moron. On the flip side, you may get thumbs up from people without experience who have no business giving a thumbs up. But it's just a source of information to be filtered just like comments/opinions in posts.
Ideally I'd like to see "You're a fucking moron" icon I can click cause that's how I feel when I am reading some of this shit, but a thumbs down will suffice.