Your reasons for leaving, as understandable or not as they are, as to whether people agree with them or not, has been a topic of discussion and contempt in this forum for quite some time, we are all quite aware of them and without doubt, will remain to be a topic for the foreseeable future. Many of us are not pleased with this trend but in actuality there is very little that can be done. Some attempts have even been made by such people as Flak, Catlin and others to try and get us to vote more often in the gallery to try and slow down the hacking and giving appropriate recognition to those artists that deserve it, but there is just so much that can be done. I think I can speak for most everyone here when I say that we fully understand your frustration when youve put in many hours or even days of unrelenting work into an image only to get it largely passed over with a couple of nice work comments while the person who uploaded after you with a simple reflective sphere hanging in space and is obviously amateur work at best, is getting rave reviews and voted into the Hot 20. That can be quite disconcerting. This is not an elitist forum, it is open to all, beginners as well advanced artists and all who wish to participate and learn the software. Many come here and post messages thanking this forum for helping them in their artistic endeavors so something positive is certainly happening here which cant be denied, therefore it cant be all that bad. This is a place where everyone learns from each other, advanced and beginner alike. I would not like to see anyone go, but we must all do what we need to do for ourselves. I agree that you should reconsider and take some time off, allow some of that frustration to melt away however long that might take, but be secure in the knowledge that we will always be here for you when you decide youre ready to come back.