I am not sure how one gets a photo on the home page, but it seems like a new competition of photos. However, the top spot seems to be based just on likes, ignoring acorn tips?

Also, many of the photos on the home page seem quite average?

Gosh, I thought they were better than average myself.

But I do think it is based on number of likes. I think they are pulled from "recent photos" so sometimes the popular photo changes throughout the day.

It is indeed based solely on likes and the acorns have no bearing on it.

Do you mean "Today's Popular Photo"? (It's the only one I have on my Home page since I customized it) Not a new competition, it's always based on thumbs-up for the time frame of newly submitted photos.

Some people give thumbs up to each and every photo, not selecting their favorites based on composition, crispness and subject so those top photos can change quite often.

Uploaded photos aren't necessarily beauty contest winners. Some are just clinical anatomy shots. I usually click like on most of the pics because I love seeing plants that I'll only see in pics, appreciate the effort it took to share them, the contribution to make the site more robust.

Some pics get a lot of likes because they are also shown in a discussion and have that additional opportunity to get noticed. And then when one gets enough thumbs to pop up on the home page, there can be a snowball effect as even more people see it there and click it.

You have contributed a lot of great pics, Frank! If you want to see "the cream rise to the top," the best pics on the site, you can look at the most popular pics on the site by changing "today" to "forever" and "new" to "popular."
https://garden.org/apps/plant_...