At deviantart the top 5 weekly images are based solely on the number of favorites that were given to it. You want an image to be in the top 5, it's a direct reflection of your taste towards the image. People can go to your your favorites and see what kind of art you place in your favorites. I'm willing to bet that if it was ran like that here for the top 20, it would have different results because people couldn't hide behind anonymous voting. What eventually happens is the people with the biggest following usually get the top spots. People get the biggest following by being the best in their field. Sometimes one of the top 5 images is also from a rookie that happens to make a great image and it gets enough well deserved attention to put it on top. Yeah, sometimes people are also in the top because of nothing but popularity, but not all the time. Nothings perfect but it works better than this "you vote for me, I'll vote for you" routine.

It is what it is. It's not just a renderosity problem though. I post at deviantart because they have a print service and I can sell my art there. I spend almost all of my time there and see similar things happening there as it does here. No site is perfect in every way. On a side note, it is disappointing that when I do get around to visiting here, I have to go through the entire gallery looking for the best images. It would be nice if the Hot 20 was the best being posted, but it's not, and doubtful it ever will be. I'm a firm believer in the saying "If you are happy with where you are, you'll stay there forever." There have been countless threads started over the Hot 20 being a popularity contest. Months (years?) later, it still is. The majority of people seem to feel that having it as a popularity contest is what it should be. The only way it's going to be about the best art is if people change themselves and only vote for the truly best images. Good luck with that, history has proven otherwise. The only thing I think should be changed that can be changed is rename it. It should be called the Popular 20, because that's what it is. A rose is a rose, call it what it has become. I do feel for you Keith. A lof your art deserves to be there and more than not isn't. I used to feel that way until I totally gave up on the hot 20. I'm at the point now that if nothing I ever post makes it there, I'm just as fine as if it does.

Thanks for the clarification.

I couldn't care less one way or the other, but was real interested in the comment by Daqfari, "...create a fractal or create art." So if someone is able to pull of an incredible looking fractal that totally blows your mind without doing any postworking, it's not art? My response is stop putting the issue in nice little, neat, organized, categorized boxes and instead "be free."

Awesome, a very unique theme. Kudos for not picking something more common.

Too cool. Wow, I thought picking a weekly was rough. How you guys do this, I don't know, but I love them.

Thanks for all the votes. I made that image because a lot of art friends lost loved ones recently. When I saw the theme, it fit perfectly with what I was trying to accomplish with that image. Glad there was people that enjoyed it enough to vote for it.

I'm touched. Thank you very much for choosing Inner Strength.

Nice friendly "community" this place has become. When you live by the rules you get insulted in numerous manners. How many people have to show up at the doorsteps of Deviant Art before someone realizes there are major problems here?

That's a great link Tresamie. I left here not because of any rules that were/were not in place. I left because of the condescending, narrow minded, scathing comments of Peapodgrrl and others like her. Her "holier than thou, you're all flat earthers" comments were the last straw. I ran into one of the better known artists from here at Deviantart and came back for another look because of it. Seems like nothing has changed. Don't miss this place one bit. It's not the rules that are driving people away, it's the people that are. For all you that think rules are stifling your creativity, first, be grateful you have a free site that will take your artwork, and secondly, do a study of the history of art and how the masters had rules and restrictions on them, but they produced timeless pieces regardless because they were wise enough to rise above it. The only thing limited around here is the ability to rise above the "attitudes" that thrive in this place.

The interesting thing about this thread is that people seem to keep implying that they are being told how to make their art. That's so far from the truth. Nobody has told a single person how to create an image or stifled anyone's creativity in any single way. All that's been said is that if you "choose" to make a certain type of art, it should be placed in a certain gallery, that's all. Judging by the bulk of comments, people want absolutely no rules to the fractal gallery. I hope people are really weighing the consequences of anarchy, because that's what the gallery will be without clear cut guidelines. I don't care what label you put on it, whether it's "artistic freedom," "non-stifled creativity," or whatever else you label it, it'll be anarchy, and that's a bad way to go.

Amen.

This is a tremendously important decision that affects posts in huge ways, but judging by all the wise cracks, people aren't taking it serious. They want to make a joke out of it, I don't care anymore. I'm done with it. All I ask is for people to never make another thread about this again, it's really getting sickening to see the division, and if they bring it up, then that's division also, which is just as bad.

Seems the bulk of the comments want that. My vote here and now is drop all restrictions in the gallery. Let people post any way they want. If people want to post pure images, they can do that. If people want postworked images in any way, they can do that.

I don't know, I had stopped posting here for a few month's when that rule was implemented? I should be asking you why you did it in the first place. This arguement never seems to die. If this isn't clearly defined and the line drawn in the sand, then this is going to happen again in a month or two from now. This needs to be finished, right here, right now. Both this arguement and the hot 20 have gone on far longer than they should have. Make a decision and lets vote on it so that this will forever be ended.