The thing about a thread that in the end contains VERY MANY photos from all sorts of sources (image hosts) is that those threads tend to load very slowly for some - since not all have fast connections, some are still on dial-up.
Yes, the General Gallery has a very fast turn-over, as it were, and often within a day your own pic has moved to Page 2 where no one comes looking any more.
But you have the chance to view your subscribed (i.e. those threads in which you have once posted a reply) threads via the UserCP, so you will always find all the new answers to any thread in which you have posted a reply, whether it be just a reply or your own thread with your photo(s) in the first post. That way it does not really matter where your thread has moved to over night, and once you post again in that very thread, it will be back on top.
So in a way things sort themselves well enough.
PLUS we have the search function - and you can study a particular member's last 200 posts if you click on Member's List, then find that member, go to their profile and click on "Show all threads by...".