billy423uk, re: the Art Charts, as you said, I suppose there is some mutual stroking, and it's also vulnerable to a feedback loop (this was discussed a bit in a Community Forum thread.) But human nature being what it is, both are unavoidable, if there are to be any kind of charts at all I suppose.  (I know there are arguments against having charts at all; I'm not trying to debate that point).

In the Community Forum thread they talked about how with the old Hot 20 one way they tried to minimize the feedback loop was to disable voting if you browsed the Hot images from the Hot 20 list. Yeah, you could still Vote by going to the artist's gallery, but it presented a speed bump.

Anyway, speaking for myself, when I have moused over the top images, I have seen some amazing thumbs that led to some images that were just so damned good I had to comment, regardless of any stroking or feedback looping I might be engaging in.  These were all images I never saw by browsing the main gallery because they got buried so fast (I always browse All/All), or I didn't have time, or they weren't by my Fav Artists. So I am happy to have discovered them through the Charts.  I have discovered some terrific artists via the Fav Artist chart as well. So far, after 2 weeks of generated charts, it seems to me that the Art Charts are coughing up a much more diverse group of art and artists than the Hot 20 ever did.

Again, I'm not trying to sell anybody on the idea of "art as competition" or anything. I guess what I mean is this: just imagine that the chart isn't a competition at all, and isn't generated through any kind of popularity system. Rather, just imagine that every week it presents you with a list of "50 quality images you may have missed."   Even with any stroking and feedback looping going on, I am finding lots of nice work I would have missed without the charts.

Re: your suggestion about sub-galleries, how is this different from the categories they have now?  For example, how would your suggested category of "erotic" differ from the current "pinup?" I suppose "erotic" might more direclty indicate nudity. 

Gallery