Welcome! We don’t bite… mostly.
The forum is exactly the place to make suggestions for improvements to iNaturalist. Both the website and the app(s).
Each specific request should be posted to the #feature-requests section, where it will be vetted by a moderator before being posted. This is mostly to keep order, prevent duplicate requests, filter out requests that are actually bug reports or personal vendettas, etc.
please actually read the directions for formatting posts in that category or there is a high chance your post won’t be approved
Likes have been requested before. I think iNat staff eventually turned down the idea of having likes on comments and IDs, but I’d have to search for the exact response.
A thanks button has also been brought up – a few times – and I think general consensus has been that it would be more annoying than helpful. In those cases, I would suggest you leave a thoughtful comment or send a direct message to the person who helped you :)
I’ll look for links to both of those previous requests.
edited to add:
https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/separate-like-and-bookmark-buttons/418/28 – rejected by staff
https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/add-like-button-to-comments-on-observations/15093/9 – no staff response so far (low priority)
https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/provide-a-non-comment-way-to-let-iders-know-you-received-their-helpful-information/5087 – staff replied it would be low priority as it would add server burden; additionally there is already a notifications update underway