I would definitely not have been turned off if you had a disclaimer. I would have posted ten times or twenty times (or whatever was needed) to be eligible. What I thought at the time while I was on the site was that the site is still buggy (as all sites are in the beginnings). That's why I said that I would check back later. Now I see that I was wrong.
I think your concept is wonderful. Everyone who has ever had a forum knows how hard the early days are when the only person posting is the site owner and his/her friends and family. Finding other forum owners in the same position is a sure way to get good quality, early posts. Those beginning posts are essential as I am sure you know.
I would, however, do things just slightly different. The problem is that as soon as you get popular, that link becomes less of motivating. With 365 users, a person might get their link there once per year. With 1,500 users, once every five years. When you get to the size of NP, the website might make it once in a lifetime.
To combat the problem of popularity, I would be harder on who gets to go there.
I would increase the number of total sites in the "Site of the Day" section to six. The top five positions would be for the top forum posters. The sixth position would be for all other users who have posted in the last 30 days (randomly chosen like you have it now). That way, you get some real motivation and competition going. People will be posting just to out post each other and make it to that spot.
After you get bigger, you could then change this up a bit. The top spot could be a random site from people (users) who have posted more than 5000 posts followed by 4,000 posts, 3,000 posts, 2,000 posts and 1,000 posts. The last spot could then be changed to something like, a random site from anyone who posted on the previous day.
This would make people post at least once everyday just to be eligible.
I hope these ideas help. I wish you the best of luck and lots of success.
