Yeah, that sounds reasonable. On remixes that I don't wanted rated, I don't think I'd want them to show up in prominent places either. Sometimes I'll post incomplete remixes to get some ideas and I'm not necessarily looking to get a rating, or reach an audience. So having such a remix excluded from prominent places would actually be preferrable.
Yep, I understand there will be tradeoffs. Just on the surface, I like to idea of expanding the workshop. I'll be able to give more feedback once the specific plans are laid out. I am excited to see some of this stuff in action down the road.
EDIT:
Yes, that's true. However, the point of the workshop is to help "newbs" improve their craft. Getting downvoted into oblivion because you're new at remixing doesn't really help meet that goal, especially if people are skipping over your remixes.
Another point, just because a piece of music gets high ratings doesn't mean it's any good. When I used to check out remixes on Newgrounds, I came across plenty of bad ones that had high ratings. Ratings do not necessarily provide quality control.