Yeah, I'm completely against a "Hot 20" or whatever.

One trick I've found for finding great pics (especially older ones, since I'm fairly new to the galleries) is whenever I find an artist whose work I enjoy, I always check out his/her favs.  I inevitably see some more art and artists I enjoy and check out their favs.  I wasted away an entire day off of work doing this once.  I was online for over eight hours, I swear and I never saw a bad picture.

We have to all admit, we have our own tastes.  I like Sci-fi, I like fantasy, I like horror.  I like Boris inspired pics and I've seen some amazing postworked images that I love.  Not everyone is going to liek what I like and I'm not going to like whatever anyone else likes.

I do like the idea of the staff doing suggestions, though, because I enjoy seeing new art and it would be nice to be pointed occasionally to a gem that I missed.

But seriously, the whole voting and comments system is a complete waste of time as a way to see if a pic is any good.  I get great comments on stuff that i post as works in progress (when what I am hoping for is some tips or some feedback as to if I am headed ina good direction).

I am also a comment whore.  I love getting comments and I know that if I do an IBL rendering of Vickie with massive breasts I'll get a lot of comments.  I've tested this theory, my most commented, faved and viewed pic is one with such ridiculously massive breasts.  Mind you IMHO, it is a good pic, but I do believe I have better in my gallery.  My personal favorites are the least commented and the least viewed.  They are a bit more artsy and therefore, not what people generally are looking for.

Naw, trust me, there are some great works out there, but there is now easy way to find them, you just have to do the leg work.