I've come up with some personal new rules for how I judge submissions.
If you go out of your way in your submission description to point out that it's your first one, I'm giving you a 0.
If you submit a video (not Flash) submission that's less than 2MB, I'm giving you a 0.
If you submit a "teaser" or a "work in progress," I'm giving you a 0.
If you submit anything non-html that's smaller than 100KB, I'm giving you a 0.
If you say in your submission description that you made it in any amount of time less than 1 hour, I'm giving you a 0.
The Portal should be for finished, polished works that are high quality. If you're just fucking around and uploading the results of it, or you're posting to get feedback before continuing, that's what the NG Dumping Grounds are for. Use them. Only upload things to the Portal if they're finished and you're proud of them, because that's what it's for.
ReNaeNae
Most users new to the scene ARE proud of their first submissions or they wouldn't post them. Lots of people posts 'teasers' as a means of motivation... feedback gives them a push they may need to soldier on and get the full thing finished. And some people are skilled AND fast.
How about you make a rule to judge each submission fairly based on the actual submission.