Very interesting thread and I've wondered this myself to be honest. I've tried to get down to the 'science' of it and try to guage when the most people will be on Renderosity surfing the galleries when I'll release a new image. It hasn't really helped, or maybe a little bit anyhow, but largely doesn't because of how everyone is from a different time zone. I usually have found that releasing a picture early in the AM (around 9 or 10am Eastern Standard -5:00 GMT) is a good time, or releasing it later in the evening around 8pm has done ok too. When I am surfing the gallery, what catches my eye the most is a thumbnail that APPEARS to be full of detail, a great POV, or looks photo-realistic (I'm a freak for photo-realism.) Sometimes I click on a TN like that and then it's like eh...not that great afterall and looks better at a 175x82 dimension. But other times I'm happily surprised by a great image. If I run across an image that I don't think is completely hot, I'll try to come up with something that I find is good in the image and leave a message, to kinda bring up the spirits of the artist. I do mean them, but those comments I leave have dual-meaning. Nothing hurts me more than to be fired up about a picture only to get a so-so amount of views, a few comments and only a few rankings, so I try to bring up the artist that is experiencing that same thing. Sambucus, in the case with you, I probably should have left something in the WIP area since I caused the whole uproar about the Bryce/Poser debate...while I found the image done nicely, I at the time (in a hurry at the time) couldn't come up with the right words right away. I hadn't realized it was uploaded to your gallery because I haven't surfed the new uploads yet. But excuses aside, it was a well-composited image in the short amount of time that you had and did show that it is possible to do a respectable image without using Poser (although in a way you can tell the animals are on 2D planes but that's what sucks about the 2D...I never like to use it but sometimes I gotta (if I could ever figure the damn feature out.)) Drac will be proud, I'm using paragraphs...hehe Anyhow, back to the topic...I think I tend to click on thumbnails that APPEAR to appeal to the kind of image I like...photo-realistic, high detailed imaging. Although also, I'm intriuged by the pictures that appear to have lots of views and a low amount of comments...it causes me to look deeper and see exactly why. So Sam had I come across yours, I would have left something (and will as soon as I get that way.) I'm not taking away from others' images and creations...if they're new to the game, I love to leave a comment. I remember my first couple of pictures, someone left a comment and a RANKING...OOOOH...hehe...but I was so excited, and kept me wanting more. As time went along, I kept wanting to do better images because I wanted to be more popular among the Bryce group here, someone that would be valued here by the others in the community. Seeing how some of the big dogs here like Rochr, AS, ICM, Doublecrash, Alvin, etc...how they all get an enormous amount of views, rankings, Hot 20 votes, etc...that just keeps me pushing to do better so I can someday be in that category. Everyone here should find something like that to motivate them for more. Before you know it, the gallery will be filled with tons of great imaging. To finish up, I think every person here has a certain thing they like in a picture...whether it be intense photo-realism, an excellent use of booleans, colors or topics...we all have SOMETHING that causes us to click on a thumbnail to get more. Sometimes we're impressed, sometimes we're left wondering what to say. In either way, it's always gonna come down to a yay or nay. (I could go into thumbnail tricks like zooming in on part of the scene, or for those people that don't use thumbnails (which I can't stand but at any rate)...I hope this shed a little light on my views of the topic. Regards, MD