Hi secretagentwilly,
I know there are some WP form plugins that will allow users to log in and make posts that you can then approve for your site. I may turn my fake TGP, Spatle.com into a real one some day by using an advanced form plugin in. I think that is possible. None that work by email though. If I see one, I'll let you know. Sorry, I can't be of more help.
Oh yeah, CyberSeo Pro
https://www.cyberseo.net/ will allow you to use XML/RSS feeds and dumps from sponsors. That's what I use on Spatle. Knowledge of PHP is very helpful but not necessary to get it running. You can do a lot more if you have that knowledge. You set up the feed/dump, tell it how to parse it and based on your CRON job, it populates your WP site with galleries.
Cheers,
Art