Plan for this

running win98,abyss server(it's thelocalhost for testing)
i need to do this:
1. let user send photo to me(a simple email link will do right?)
2. put image in folder and path in db(i'm so lost on this)
or
2b. put image in db(i prefer the former, but at this point i'm desperate)
3. display photos
4. rate photos using mysql (only one vote)
5. let users learn points for visiting the site

i have read SO many tutorials(yank's too) and downloaded SO many gallery scripts(hotscripts, too) and read books.

i need to know how to tackle the making of this site. i need to know the SIMPLE way to do it. i am NOT web developer.i've been working on this for months, but i think my problem is that i'm having a problem weeding out the information that i do not need.

please, please help

You need a database called something like "User photos" with the following structure:

photoID (unique)
photoURL
photoCaption
photoVotestotal
photoAverageVote

Then you need to have a PHP script that will access the database using mysql_fetch_array to sort the results into rows.

This will show the page with the photos and the right captions under each. For voting you need something in PHP that basically says "update the photoVotesTotal count to one more than it currently is" and then add "photoAverageTotal" plus the new vote together and divide them by erm, wait, I'm losing sight of the maths, but you know how to do that part... and then reset the values in each of the fields to what they should be.