I still cannot grasp where all the turmoil over the ratings is coming from...When Matt got artist of the month and deleted his entire gallery,I scratched my head as I also did when Keith deleted his gallery. I was terribly sorry to see these "top" artists IMHO get so upset as to remove their wonderful visions from our collective site. Matt,when I asked about "underlying issues" I wasnt referring to you having a problem with Americans... what I meant was what Keith refers to here: "I started to think that I was something that I wasn't." Above excellent?If excellent is dealt out so freely that it means nothing,and no one critiques your work then that must mean your work is perfect in all aspects and you are a "god/goddess" when it comes to fractals? Uh...noooo,thats surely not it.Ego isnt a problem with the artistic community...right? :) Then possibly the people that view/rank/comment on your work dont know enough about the technical aspect of fractals to notice a flaw here and there? Maybe some... Or maybe you are your own worst critic.I know that applies to me. Ive noticed the people that seem to know the most about fractals seldom comment on ANYONES work.Why is that?? The people that complain about ratings and the lack of constructive criticism are surely not participating in rating excellents to undeserving art and are taking the time to insert constructive criticism into comment boxes everywhere they feel its needed....right? Maybe the former,but not the latter that Ive noticed.