I have noticed that the voting scores have evolved over time. Obviously there were a great deal more entries in the past , but it was common to see scores in the 70s or higher. Now, that is almost non-existent. I have been here just a short time so I don't know why this is a trend. Are the entries just poor, or is there something else?

The quality is not as good as Freaking News or Dagger Bay, but there are some good entries here. I'm going to adjust my opinion on some of these. I vote on initial impression, the creativity of the idea and I never use the magnifying glass. I happen to like cartoonish and B&W entries, but not simple cut and paste jobs; the ones that look like they took 10 minutes from a Fark entry. They're going to get a 10 from here on out. Good ones will get better scores than what I have been doing.

Thoughts?

The voting trend here did change for the worse, maybe it will change back, who knows.
As far as FN and Dagger Bay I totally disagree, been on both and I think both suck especially FN, all the better choppers are no longer around.
A simple Cut and paste can be good, but ultimately it's still a simple C&P. I generally look at the overall Idea as a first impression, but then I go deeper and look at the technical aspects of the chop, and see how one or many images where integrated together, I tend to look at them in a more critical/professional way.
A mediocre chop, neither good or bad starts at 50, where it goes from there depends on the technical aspects and creative ability.
I do use the magnifying glass.

FN seems to have a theme and similarities. The posts are a bit more lighter and exaggerated such as enlarging the heads of people. Still, there is a lot of good stuff there. I like the political part of it. They have a rating system that I looked at and it does seem fair, but I tend to vote quickly there based on initial impression. I guess I'm more influenced by the idea of the post.

I like your idea of a starting point of 50. I see that I usually have been close to the other votes even though I don't try to do that. Haven't decided if that is good or bad. I want to give people the benefit of the doubt because I know the time it takes to put something together. But with that being said, some people are good and some entries are shitty. Kudos to the newer members who are learning BTW.