Hey there Ariel. Thanks for the comment. I guess I have some clarification questions. If one editor nominates another editor of the same publication, does that count as one of the two self nominations? Because there's a publication I would previously submit to, and one of the editors would have nearly all of their articles boosted (or at least they would list it in a reading list as boosted)...not saying they were poorly written, but when compared to what many other writers were submitting, it screamed nepotism.

And speaking of that, was there ever a discussion of not allowing pub managers/editors to nominate their own/other editor's own articles? Because it really does feel like a conflict of interest. If two stories are marginally close in structure/quality and the nod is always given to the pub manager, it kind of skews the entire system. Especially when the boost system is a primary driving factor to making halfway decent money.

To me, it's like a writing contest not allowing family members of judges to submit. It erases all possible suspicion and doubt (on the flip side, I've been part of "big break" screenplay competitions where the winner was a very well established TV director...it really eroded the integrity of the competition).