I voted to ditch the ratings as they stand. Not that it really bothers me, personally, but I can see how it does others. It's certainly a bit arbitrary, a photo with 5 views and a 5 star rating versus an image with nearly 100 views and a moderate rating. In that example, the rating for the second photo seems more valid because of a higher view population. Then again, maybe the first photo was pushed off the index by someone uploading 10 images of a MARS Neo-Viper and nobody saw it.

Feedback is really the best system for criticism. If a ratings scale were connected to the feedback replies, and tallied for the image, it might be somewhat useful. But I also don't reply to every photo I view. I could think a photo is okay without replying to contribute to it's score. Similarly, if three posters have already offered advice to someone (please focus better next time), I'll skip adding my same 2 cents on top of that.