How about the ability to "like" or "+1" a post? To prevent obvious abuse, you must have positive trust and seniority to vote. A +1 should not give any advantage to a a post.
How about adding a rating beside each thread/post if someone likes his OP or comment?
It will look authentic in this forum because +1 and like features are more suitable in social networking sites rather than an independent forum where open discussions happen all the time.
What do you think Vod?
If you're suggesting that each +1 would add to a total per post/topic, then yes, that is what I'm suggesting.