well, seems im coming in here a little late.. but, i am impressed with how this was dealt with. people didnt get nasty, voiced their concerns, and what seems to have been a really bad decision by the admins has not even been implemented and is now in the process of being rectified. i think the new rule was way overboard (you should have seen my face when i read it, i was in total shock, i thought it was a joke)... but i see the need for A new rule. just not that one. i think the TOS needs to be more clear. the way it stands now, it is very open to interpretation. it needs to be crystal clear in what IS against the TOS and what is acceptable. that way we wont have the constant bickering back and forth about 'why was my image removed' or 'i want you to remove this image'. i, for one, would be happy to vote for a new addendum to the TOS, and i trust in the good intentions and morality of the rest of the community to find a good solution to this problem that will be accepted by most. however, i do know that there is a GLARING flaw with the polls. this was demonstrated a few months in a row, as a certain member secured his AOM victory by mass-messaging his friends in newsgroups, who created accounts for the sole purpose of voting him for AOM. this was REPEATED afterwards, until the new AOM vote was instituted and ended the possibility of any further manipulations of the polls. so the problem lies in this fact: the only people that will vote for the hot20, or AOM (up till now) are those people who have an active interest in its outcome. and these people are generally either voting at the request of the potential winner, or are friends/aquaintances. i think, in order to eliminate the possibility of a fixed vote, or one that is swayed by manipulations, the following should be done: the poll pops up for EVERYONE upon their next login to renderosity. that way EVERY MEMBER, not just those who are extremely interested in the outcome, must take a moment and read the new addendum and vote. this way you will get an ACCURATE vote, and not a manipulated one. if your coders fail to do that (which they shouldnt, since its quite easy to implement, simply a popup directing them to the poll), then send out an EBOT email to everyone, accompanied by an IM. urge them to take an active part in a poll that will so profoundly affect their community. as for the person who did manipulate the AOM proceedings two months in a row - if they hold true to the motive that they described in several forum threads - that they did it to PROVE the imbalance and the inadequacy of the current hot20/aom system, then this post shouldnt offend them at all, since it echoes the same outrage at a flawed system. cheers, -gabriel