Beating a dead horse: How do I add thread ratings to search results and new posts?

[Lugnut]

I know this has been asked before and I hate to start yet another thread about this but there just have not been any suitable fixes for this problem. And yes, I do believe it's a problem since I know many of us run smaller boards that don't have 2949603490343 members with 342432 online at any given point so using the "new posts" function doesn't turn the host server into molten slag.

However, when I see a thread with a banal title like "poast ur age" that has 150 replies in mere hours on a forum with only 900 members I have to wonder why. Is it really that interesting? Is there drama? Did someone post naked pics of themselves to show off their new boobs that they got as a gift for their 35th?

Or is it just a boring thread that is just bumped for no good reason?

Thread ratings would tell me that. If it were rated a 5 I know that either the boob theory is true or there's a fight going on and I am definitely going to read it. If it's a 3 I'll pass unless I've read everything else and feel masochistic.

My forum only has about 30-50 active threads a day. We joke that there's only the "new posts" forum. So please, how do I add thread ratings to searches? This would be an enormous improvement.