Quote - An artist can turn the rankings off when loading an image, but then their image cannot be highly rated.

At risk of sounding like a prick...

...so what?

If you want the glory, show some guts. The ratings tool isn't some built-in ego masturbatory aid; it's supposed to be a means by which you can gauge how well you do among those who view the image.

About the image...

If it sucks and gets a "1", deal with it. Learn from it. Improve yourself already.

If it sucks and gets a "5", then nobody is helped out, and you're in for one hell of a bigger disappointment if you ever take that image anywhere that can be even remotely connected with The Real World.

If it rocks and gets a "1", then others will happily drown it out.

If it rocks and gets a "5", then job well done - try and push yourself a little more next time anyway, and venture out to see what other communities think. Maybe write some tutorials while you're at it so that the rest of us can suck less when we build something.

The middle-of-the-road images? Well, that's how you're supposed to use this whole thing. A lower score shows that there's something missing in your image that should really be there. A higher but not perfect score means that you're improving, and need only a little something more (compositional tweaks, better lighting, better use of materials, better post-work, whatever) to push it over the top.

Seriously - I suspect that a little too much time and drama is being pitched towards the whole ratings mess anyway.

/P