This tool is more like giving personalized search results, which Google already does using search history and Gmail. But I'm sure Google will make something more of the data generated by its users, what sites they like and dislike.
I do not like this either... If it turns out to be a good thing than Google will dominate even more. Yahoo and MSN will have to go. That means a monopoly world for Google - that's not good Does that make sense ?
I wonder why there are still no seo communities devoted to this type of promotion - it is evident that Google is / will be using the data for ranking websites.
It's clearly not affecting the public SERPS at the moment (only you can see it), but once they've collected enough data, they're almost sure to use it in some way, as a measure of quality (user voted), which will have an influence (who knows how big) on the SERPS. I think its a useful research feature for SEOs. Try it out on some of your clients phrases, and click on the Wiki notes link at the bottom. Look at what sites have been promoted or demoted. Is your site among them? Are users promthat's oting it or demoting it, and how many votes, compared to competing sites. Now that's useful information. Obviously this'll get better with time, as more data is collected.