In reply to The_flying_climber:
> Also the number of photos with dates in early 2012 (particularly in popular photo sections)shows the voting system is not really working properly. Wouldn't 'highest average vote', rather then 'number of votes' be a better system?
It is done on highest average votes with a factor for number of votes being included. It is quite complicated though.
With an average vote system, a photo receiving 1 vote of 5 would rate higher than a photo receiving 99 votes of 5 and 1 vote of 4 which obviously isn't satisfactory. Obviously you could put a threshold in of say 20 votes minimum, but is 20 votes of 5 really an indication of more popularity than 99 of 5 and 1 of 4?
What we actually use is a complex secret algorithm which is only know to the wizard Nick Smith.
Alan