I would like to get my hands on the R'osity database and do a little data mining. I'd compare the rate of comment posting to the rate of comment/vote receiving.

While I do believe that there are plenty of warranted comments and votes, I think it's undeniable that more comments and v's will get you more of the same in return--it's just human nature, when you get a nice comment, you feel appreciative towards that person. You have a limited time to browse the gallery, so your clicks are spent on the thumbs that catch your eye and the users you are feeling appreciative towards. You might even feel guilty if you don't 'return the favor'. So I basically agree with the OP; I don't think there is any way to fix it, it's just the way things are. Unfortunately it means that many images get less attention than they deserve.

Note: I am not accusing people of commenting just to get more comments; more that some people have more time or inclination to comment on a lot of images.

Deagol, Instead of someone voting up an image using multiple accounts (which may be a small problem but not really the problem here) I think a better test would be for someone to comment on every image posted and see what happens with their own posts.