Should Message Board threads be encouraged by/or rating/~ed?

Oh there are many improvements that should be made to the message boards, this would be an interesting one - perhaps threads with a lot of likes might avoid the automated deletion. It would solve a few problems.

This reply was created from a merged topic originally titled Like.

After (and during) almost every movie I see I go directly to IMDB (my favourite website) to find out some answers. Invariably, I almost always find my answer. It saddens me though that there is so much "hate" and "negativity" on this site. It seems that most people post just to disparage someone they don't know but immensely dislike. Regardless, I have read many positive posts and would love to see a "like" button beside posts I feel are valuable or informative. Thoughts?

This reply was created from a merged topic originally titled Message Board Voting.

IMDb has quite possibly the worst discussion boards on the internet. The average Youtube comment is more rational, civil, and insightful. The report system is ineffective to say the least I suggest a voting system be implemented to curb the rampant trolling on IMDb. Many other websites have used this system to great success and significantly improved the level dialogue.

I watched the movie Observe & Report and afterwards wanted to see other people's opinions on the film. I regretted it within a minute. While a few people legitimately wanted to discuss the film they were harassed by one fanatic who insulted every person who made any negative comment about the movie. This is not an isolated incident. Almost every somewhat popular board is plagued by these people. Obsessive fans lurking on their favorite movies/shows boards is a big problem that needs to be resolved if IMDb ever hopes to encourage positive discussion on their boards. If IMDb is unwilling or unable to moderate their message boards properly, then that power should be given to the user base.