obviously there is a difference between "Reputation" and "Liking."
On facebook you can "Like" a post and it means just that - you like it.
On this website I would not want to boost somebody's "Reputation" just because they say something I like. Reputation goes much deeper. You could post something off the wall and totally gross and even wrong, and I might still "Like" it, but to add to your reputation would not do the corn snake forum justice.
I understand there is "Bad Reputation" too, but you can't delete what the person doesn't have to begin with. If their reputation is Nil or 1, giving a bad mark is really meaningless.
There is merit to the "Likes" on facebook not because it builds up somebody's ego, rather it lets "Everyone who reads the post" know that a lot of people like it or not. Obviously if the post has one or two "likes" then it doesn't mean much, but if it has 300 Likes, then maybe it's worth looking at a second time.
This being a forum for one thing only - "Corn Snakes" then the "Like" system probably would not fly, and the Reputation should go to the people that have a good reputation and not just any idiot that trolls and opens their mouth.
Reputation is generally passed about on a personal level. I may "Like" a lot of posts that I read on this website, but I don't know any of you personally, so I don't know anything about your reputation and I won't boost it or decline it if I don't know you.