IMHO... The ratings were garbage. They were tied only to the individual who posted the message and not to the message itself. The individual never was notified of which post was being rated and so could never fix the post. Basically they turned into a "popularity contest". You could click helpful or not-helpful on the same post multiple times (an hour or so apart) just to "flame" someone.
I agree with Otis69 that ratings could be helpful, but it would take re-vamping the forum software so that the user giving the rating was identified, as well as having to give a reason, and having a neutral party examine the ratings and reasons.
Given the present state of the forum software, I'm glad to see them go, (even though I did have a positive rating).