I don't think that an artist having more than one image in the H20 is a problem at all. Some artists here are just plain prolific. To do that would just make it one of those "everybody is a winner" type things. Who would then strive to get better? What the problem mentioned at the top of this thread is, and the water is being cloudied on, is the appearance of blatant swapping of votes between certain artists that roam in packs across a number of galleries. Now, don't get me wrong I DO appreciate a LOT when my images are voted for and it's ALWAYS a thrill but it kinda loses its impact when you see folks that "V" on almost EVERY image. I find the excuse that "I just wanted them to know just HOW MUCH I liked the image" to be disingenuous at best when you see that. I, personally, have no problem coming up with superlatives to convey my pleasure when I'm particularly blown away by an image and I'm not exactly the most eloquent person here. And I'll many times tuck them away in my faves list that I like to browse a lot for the inspiration those images supply. Now, I do vote a lot (anon, of course) and like to encourage a lot but shoot - I LIKE fractals! And then you have the ones that say "V" and lie and really didn't vote - I won't go there. And the problem is not that some people in this thread DON'T want votes either, IMHO. The bottom line is, like it or not, the H20 IS a sort of competition by its very structure - and it's human nature! - and hence, I think, needs some rules to make it seem more "fair" to everyone here like any other game or competition. Once it can be seen as "fair" then nobody can complain and let the chips fall where they may and everyone can move on and we won't have these threads anymore - I hope. :?) Or just can it, like Mags said since it causes such a problem for some. So here's my suggestions, maybe not new, maybe dumb, hopefully constructive... 1) I think adding "V" or any other coded indication (#) that one voted for an image should be a zero-tolerance, banning offense. Or maybe one second chance in case someone didn't know. That would require no software changes. And no "language barrier" excuses - some of the best artists here don't speak english well, but it DOES say when you join here that "english is the language of the site". And Babelfish isn't THAT bad. (BTW, when you see me say "VERY well done" it doesn't mean I voted, it is just a way to shout or accent the word. Like "WAY cool!!" as opposed to "way cool".) 2) I think that voting should be made possible directly from the H20 page to encourage more participation by decreasing the time and effort required. The site runs slow, sometimes - especially getting to/from the H20 page. Though it IS a good excuse to go to someone's gallery and catch up on images you may have missed seeing. 3) I think that there should be a 24 hour delay set on the time it takes for a vote to register in the H20. This would make it much harder to discern if someone voted for your image by "hawking" the image and checking for new votes with each new comment/viewing - a thing I admit to having done b4, myself, but try to never let influence my own voting - and further lessen the "quid-pro-quo" opportunities/appearance. 4) I think I read this b4 in the past in one of these threads but anyhow, I think all artists should be required to chose a genre on their homepage manager and their votes only be counted when cast for images of that genre. There was a big stink a while back in the Terragen gallery about fractal folks supposedly coming over and casting "uninformed"(their word, not mine) votes. They maybe had a bit of a point even if their method of protesting was a bit over the top and very rude and hurtful to the lady involved. What does a fractal geek like me know about the finer points of using T-gen or Poser - nada. I'm into abstraction, spirals and colors/textures, not nature scenes or human figures - though I find the colors/composition of some of those images pretty darn beautiful and I'm a closet Bryce admirer - lol. If someone wanted to change their chosen genre, put a week delay on when the change takes effect so people couldn't hop back and forth. This would not restrict anyone from posting images in multiple galleries/software platforms - just which they could vote in. You can count the "V"'s in our H20 on some images (yes, some on mine too) from artists from galleries other than Fractal and see that they sometimes can make up 80-90% of the total votes. We're kinda small compared to the Poser, etc galleries, ya know? 5) And I agree with Nick and Keith that everyone should vote OFTEN. Fractal images should be getting 40-50 votes like in other galleries rather than just 10-20. I reckon folks could still IM each other about votes but that would be pretty darn sick or sociopathic even? Probably most of this stuff is unfeasable from a software/cost standpoint. Or just dumb. And yes, I've been known to go to other galleries and comment on the work of a few artists from those genres that I like, too, and some of them stop by to check out my stuff as well so I'm not totally "lily-white" in this mess either. Though, I've only said "V" once maybe twice a couple years ago and that was to cheer up a XD artist who was really bummed about his work not making the H20. Nice guy - neat XD shapes - reckon I'm just a softie - so shoot me. He ended up leaving anyhow. Anyhow, I hope nobody gets ticked at me and my art doesn't suffer the consequences of my mouth/fingers - I'm just trying to help here....And, Keith - dadgum it, don't you go getting any ideas - leave your amazing images right where they are or I'll have to come up to Seattle and re-post them myself! lol Rick