does the thumbs keep track of anything like how many people like the topic or just tells whether the individual poster likes the topic or not.
Also, are you choosing the thumbs up/down on the topic only or all individual replys also?
On the 'like' system, if you 'like'd a specific post/reply, it simply says how many ppl also liked it, & if you scroll over the 'like' you can see whom the individuals were that liked your statement.... It's not used for an overall topic subject, just individual posts/responses....
In the thumbs up/down formats, I'm having trouble remembering if you can see who gave you the thumbs up/down, or not.... It's been a long while since I've been to any of those sites...
There also is a 'reputation's or 'karma' point system, as tigger spoke of, that ppl can essentially do the same thing.... You can add or subtract 'karma' from individual ppl's posts depending on if you agreed/+karma or if didn't like/- karma. On this system, I can't remember if everyone can see how each person 'voted', but, the 'owner' of the indiviual post voted on has a place where they can check in to see whom gave positive or negative points/karma/reputation, if I'm remembering correctly.
What the benefits of the systems are is that even though you may not have any actual reply post in regards to a statement from someone, you can simply let them know by a simple like/dislike of what you thought of their post.... I like the idea of the anonymity of a couple of the sysytems, as well.... Anything similar to any of the above mentioned would def be a plus, though!