How about a section alongside newest threads, threads with most post etc for posts with the most likes. This may encourage people to hit the likes button instead of saying thanks in the thread.
Also, or rather than the current list of members with the most likes, a list of members with the largest percentage of likes to total posts after exceeding say 300 or so posts
There is a very simple reason why readers hit "like" button.Poster does not allow to view his profile and de facto limits what could be viewed,the way around it is to hit the like button so you can always come back that particular post or whole thread. Of course there has to be something of value in the post. The best example of this is member "i am nobody",i hit a lot of likes to his posts ,because i know it would take me longer to search for them again. I often do Google search with given member's name and elitetrader to see what that member posted in the past if his profile is limited from view.
There is a search tool on the top right to view all posts from any member. I use the "like" button to encourage helpful and accurate responses.
I "liked" Rob Morse's previous post (#4) because of his suggestion for a "dislike" option. Had nothing to do with anything related to his profile, or searching.