@Sandy_Richards-Brown I have endeavored to provide answers to your questions. Please let us know if you need further clarification.
There is no specific Weekly Picks gallery at this time. You can see the Weekly Picks for a particular gallery by going to the specific gallery and clicking the Editor’s Pick button. Here’s a link that shows you how.
As far as I know, the Weekly pick time frame has not changed.
So far David has not given any guidance on this.
One of the reasons for having a separate critique gallery is that it is a ‘private’ i.e. ‘members only’ gallery. The ‘sharing’ gallery is a ‘public’ gallery that everyone can see (Note: Non members cannot comment in the ‘Sharing’ gallery. If the two galleries were combined, anyone, including non-members would be able to comment. This is certainly not something I would want.
I agree that it takes a bit of extra work to upload a tweaked (final) image to a ‘sharing’ gallery, but the upside is that the public can see it, which is to a member’s advantage, in my opinion.
Yes, the old Man & Nature gallery is no more. It looks like you have a found a typo in the FAQ/Guidelines:
Images that include domesticated animals in a rural scene should be posted in the Man & Nature Gallery.
Go ahead, Sandy. Just be sure to post in the appropriate forum. Also, please include some text in your post that indicates what the article is about along with the link. Personally, I do not click on links that are not explained. Third, please post in only one forum: cross-posting is confusing.
The Badges are a part of the Discourse Web software. Since I am not versed in the intricacies of Discourse, David would have to let us know if they can be disabled.
@Sandy_Richards-Brown I hope I have answered your questions. I am sure @David_Kingham will respond with more detail, as needed.