Rules are made to be broken... or are they?

I just spent 2 hours viewing and voting on 2500 images in one of the contests. It was unbelievable to me that I could not bring myself to vote for absolutely beautiful photos because of one or two (or both) major photo 101 rules consistently broken or not observed. YES, rules can and should be broken, IF there is an artistic reason to do so but these elementary composition rules should be observed in a majority of the cases. First, don't put the main subject dead center in the composition. Second, observe the horizon line to ensure that is is straight and the composition doesn't look like it's in jeopardy of sliding off the page and never (almost never) cut the composition in half with the horizon line... it makes for a boring composition. These errors were almost entirely to be blamed upon photographers. It must be that most painters and other artists can paint a straight line and have learned the rule of thirds. SO, photographers either buy a level or straighten the horizon line between water and sky or land and sky and don't cut the composition in half with the horizon line. AND, get the bird, dog, tree, flower, girl, or building out of the center and compose it more appropriately "off center". Again a study of the "rule of thirds" and the image provided here will explain my frustration with scenic images which "do not follow the rules".