I was speaking entirely from the point of view of my own aesthetics. The more unnecessary images, the worse it is. It's why I like Hacker News' aesthetic so much: for what it does, it only uses two different images, one on the main page.

I think and have thought for a long time that having a 5-star rating system to create a massive opinion is unnecessary. It's good for when you have a focus on the individual, because then it focuses on the user's own tastes; for a site like this, I don't see why up-and-down wouldn't be sufficient.