You guys would be appalled to see how few votes get polled to pick the hot 20. If you don't like the lineup today - get off your keyboard hands and go VOTE for something you DO like! End rant PS Please note I have a very high fever. I'm gonna go puke now :P

I'm gonna go puke now :P TMI. But thanks for the public service announcement. ;0)

You and Legume are right. The Hot 20 has shifted dramatically in the last 24 hours. Probably because people got steamed up enough to vote. I know I did (for the lovely "Gilda" by dalinise, if you want to know what I find beautiful). Of course it won't last but it's nice to see it is possible to put more variety of artists into the top 20. No, I'll never be there (that's okay) but I like seeing more people getting some visibility. The question is, do we go back to indifference or do we keep up encouraging each other to do more interesting graphics by voting? Guess that's a question I can't answer.

http://www.renderosity.com/viewed.ez?galleryid=271584&Start=523&Sectionid=1&WhatsNew=Yes Here is one that I missed, I think it could be in the 20 IMO.

Great advice.

You are right Lyrra. I know I have been. Hope you are feeling better!

Lyrra , OK I'll go do that. be well, -TJ

I think a lot of people don't vote because they see the hot20 as an unimportant game. I have noticed in the past on the few occasions when I've looked at the hot20 that there is a specific style of picture that gets voted in repeatedly. The person who was accused of manipulating votes has that style off pat, so, although I don't think the pictures were top rate, I don't find it surprising to see them in the hot20. The style is very simple: take one simpering vicky, add the best quality photo-realistic texture you can afford, put a wall in the background, make the whole thing a bit fuzzy so it looks airbrushed and there you are. This sort of thing is popular. Personally, I can't be bothered with it.

There are more important things to consider than simpering Vickis in underwire! People can go back to drooling Wednesday. We have elections going on all over this country which feature close races for governorships and congressional seats. We have propositions regarding housing and water on the ballot here, and you guys just might have something which strikes close to the bone on your ballots, too. I don't give a flying fig leaf how you vote, but I do ask in all sincerity that you at least think about it. You don't have to vote for every last school board member if you don't know them, but if there is a proposition which affects you, a Senator you want ousted, or the right to complain for the next two years... please take the time to go to the polls. Carolly

Hey look... it's a... a flying fig :)!

Therein lies the problem, Legume. Since Renderosity is the largest and most visible venue for Poser art, it is ASSUMED that the hot 20 are the BEST 20 images produced in this community. People outside this loop are not in on the idea that the hot 20 is merely a forum one can manipulate if ones has enough friends and can make two dozen voting accounts. So in essence, this makes all Poser artist look bad in the the Bigger picture. And it's even more pathetic that those few that are polluting the hot 20 with their unremarkable images have now taken to trolling and spamming other artist galleries. It's unconscionable, but the PTB will not or cannot move fast enough to remedy the situation. I don't like the fact that when I mention my art can be seen(well, until today) at Renderosity and the response is "What a joke". I was offended and DEFENEDED the site, only to then be laughed at again when they presented evidence OF the joke. Whatever your perception of the hot 20 is, it doesn't change the fact that the 3D community at LARGE believes that Poser is a toy. Until we change the way people HERE represent themselves, Poser will continue to be laughed at and ridiculed.

I still wonder if the gallery should be split between the people who take themselves seriously as artists and want to be treated as such andd those of us who really do just want to have fun, who see Poser as a toy box, and really don't care about the artistic merit of what we do as long as we are learning something new and having a good time at it.

There is room in most art worlds for both the professional/serious artist and the hobbyist. Why not here?

And the Hot 20 is still a popularity contest and will stay that way because it has to do with people voting (ever notice what jokes land in polical office some election days....watch those short lines at the polls today and tell me if people are taking the responsibility of who is running their city, states, and country seriously), and people tend to vote for what they like (or who they know) rather than what is aristically significant.

Oh well. I'm not sure that's such a horrible thing, since no two authorities can agree on what is artistically significant. And what is so wrong about wanting to have fun? I spend all day at work staring seriously at people. I've no interest in doing that here. Oh yeah, I want to be on the hobbyist side of the galleries if a list is forming.

I don't assume that the images that show up in the Hot 20 are the best. Sometimes I think they are, but that assessment is independent of the Hot 20 designation. Many works there are far better than I can do at this point, so I look at them for inspiration and motivation. But to assume that they're anything more than "the ones that got the votes" is like saying that high school popularity polls are worth anything, which they aren't. Where are the jocks and cheerleaders now? And where are the math nerds? :-) Legume has an interesting point which resonates (as it's election day here in the USA.) Those that campaign most effectively are usually the ones that get the votes. That's all it means. Quality is a subjective value to some degree, anyway. This is not to dismiss the Hot 20. It's fun. It's just not anything that matters, ultimately. It won't help your career. It won't pay the bills. It won't win you a raise. It might boost your ego, nothing wrong with that, but apparently that's the be-all and end-all for some (?)

I don't even bother with the Hot 20 and the last time I even bothered to view it was more than a year ago. Legume is right about you Hisminky, the fact that you are so concerned about something so trivial might indicate jealousy? Renderosity belongs to A COMMUNITY Hisminky and its not your private turf to dictate it's course. My 2 cents.

"Well, then I suggest you find new friends who aren't assholes." Advice to live by, Legume.

"Changing the Hot 20 isn't NEARLY enough to do that. But let's take it to it's logical end, instead of thinking that you can win the war with the first shot. Let's say you DO somehow magically make the Hot 20 a list of the 20 best images. To do that you'd need to form a committee to decide which images are worthy. This committe would have to be chosen from all the members here. Then you'd have to make sure that they're morally upright and of unimpeachable character so that they won't vote in THEIR pals. Then, once implemented, this committee would need to peruse every image posted to the gallery to decide which are the best. The Hot 20 would then be a static gallery, because then the committee would have to wait until someone posted an image better than the worst of them in order to update it to the current best." What if you appoint a new committee (jury) of six-or-so members drawn from a random pool of known active accounts? What if jury membership rotates every two weeks? What if the nominees for the Really Good 20 are drawn from those 50-or-so images that garner the most hits in the sample week? Don't you then get a reasonably fair sampling of the group aesthetic in terms of hits plus juried selection?

I voted today ... after work. bob uhhh... whats the hot 20 ?

"But then you'd have people hitting 'refresh' on their images to increase hits." Does that work? Dang--I had no idea... Your point is taken--the beauty of the current system is that it's fully automated--nobody has to DO anything.

Blacksavior, or whoever, I would have to have a gallery here to be jealous, ne? And I suppose those people who thought the tea tax was unfair were just wasting their time too. Then again, THEY did something about it rather than bend to the whim of the few and complacent.