I've been thinking a lot about the growth problem here... and I have a couple of ideas. Hear me out.
So, one of the major problems people have is not getting their images seen. Often an image uploaded at the wrong time of day can get pushed down and never seen; it happens to all of us. My idea to get more people to see more images is this: require people to look at, and comment on, a certain number of images before they are even allowed to upload one of their own.
Example: Say I'm a new user, and I want to upload an image. I read the short simple explanation: "In order to upload an image of your own, you have to comment on at least 3 other images in the New Images gallery." Simple enough, I say. I open up the new images gallery, find 3 images I like, and comment on them.
This has some benefits and some problems... first of all, it solves both the problem of not enough exposure/comments and too many uploads (It increases the "cost" of uploading, so people would theoretically upload less) (and in fact, comments could be a kind of currency -- you have to spend them in order to post images, but you still have the same maximum uploads we have now, 2 or 4 (or 1 or 2, whatever)). The main problem I see is tracking the comments and their validity... I envision lots of "Nice." and "Good shot." just to get the upload, (not that we don't already see those sorts of comments)...
So, one of the major problems people have is not getting their images seen. Often an image uploaded at the wrong time of day can get pushed down and never seen; it happens to all of us. My idea to get more people to see more images is this: require people to look at, and comment on, a certain number of images before they are even allowed to upload one of their own.
Example: Say I'm a new user, and I want to upload an image. I read the short simple explanation: "In order to upload an image of your own, you have to comment on at least 3 other images in the New Images gallery." Simple enough, I say. I open up the new images gallery, find 3 images I like, and comment on them.
This has some benefits and some problems... first of all, it solves both the problem of not enough exposure/comments and too many uploads (It increases the "cost" of uploading, so people would theoretically upload less) (and in fact, comments could be a kind of currency -- you have to spend them in order to post images, but you still have the same maximum uploads we have now, 2 or 4 (or 1 or 2, whatever)). The main problem I see is tracking the comments and their validity... I envision lots of "Nice." and "Good shot." just to get the upload, (not that we don't already see those sorts of comments)...
Anyway, just an idea. Play with it.