What is more useful? A (somewhat vague) emotional response. Or a response that verbalizes what is appreciated? 
If I like something, I will tell you 
why I like it. Or don't like it. Sure, it can be pleasing to know that someone likes our efforts, but its a whole lot more heartening to know why our efforts are appreciated. Its much better feedback. 
The "like" button just makes people lazy and is a symptom of the general intellectual decline of our society. For instance, on Yahoo News they now have a section immediately under the body of the story asking:
What do you feel about this article?
Since when have our 
feelings about news events become more important than what we 
think about them? Oh, you still can post comments, but you have to scroll past a couple more items to find that part. 
What happened on the other board I frequent is that a small number of individuals with an axe to grind with others would go on a thumbs-down clicking rampage, finding all previous posts and any new posts and automatically rating them thumbs down. Then, others, trying to counter the efforts of these few, would do the opposite and it just became a thumbs-up/down war. With 20,000 members, it got pretty messy until the function was just removed and then everyone breathed a sigh of relief. This is a board whose members are generally highly-educated, mature, and well-off -- not a bunch of juveniles and not the dregs of society. 
So, yeah... if you have something good to say, then say it. Practice your articulation. Hone your verbal skills. Its good for you, too...