Personally, I think i'll wait until i've seen all the evidence and heard both sides of the story before I pass judgement, until then I will give the person the benefit of the doubt. After all since his native language isn't english and we all know what a poor grasp of the language he has then this could all be a misunderstanding. I'm not saying this because he is a good friend of mine because he isn't, I barely know him. Also, I think you were out of line naming him, Eveline. No matter what your intentions were you have no doubt cast more suspicion on this person from people who didn't even know who it was before. Until he chooses to step forward and explain/defend himself he should have remained anonymous. Lastly, the Hot 20 is a crock of shit. How many times are we going to have to say this before people start listening? I just took a look at it and all 20 spots are occupied by 8 people...That's an average of 2 and a half images per person (i'm a wiz at mathematics). Out of those 20 I can only see '2' maybe 3 that deserve to be there... I wasn't going to say anything about this but... A while ago I did an experiment, some may remember it 'The BFS Experiment'? It wasn't just an experiment in spirals but also in popularity and manipulation. I wanted to see if I could increase the number of comments I received just by commenting on every image that was posted. The average number of comments that I received per image up until the start of the experiment was...10.4 The average number per image while I was commenting on everything that was posted was...23.3 That's an increase of like...130%? (I lied, i'm not a wiz at mathematics). When I stopped commenting again the average per image dropped back down to...12.8 and now it has gone back to about the same as it was before I started. The really interesting thing is, that before and since the experiment I hadn't had an image that got into the Hot 20 in a long time. Yet while it was going on I got '2' in there at the same time...coincidence? I don't think so. I'm not saying that people who comment on every image are purposely manipulating their own work. I'm just saying that commenting (and voting) inevitably brings these results whether you are trying for it or not. I wasn't even being 'over the top' in my comments. I didn't laud everything as a masterpiece but just said it was a nice image. That doesn't mean I didn't like the images I commented on either, it just means they were nice. I can't help wondering how many comments I would have got if i had been over the top though... So, anyone that is lacking in the comments and votes department...You know what to do... As for me, i'm back where I started and happier for it. Only getting comments from people who actually like the images for what they are and not for what they get them in return (ie. comments and votes). No one feels pressurised to comment on my images and I don't feel the same to comment on theirs. I may go weeks without posting a single comment or I may comment on every image posted today. The decision is in my hands. Matt.