All well and good, but have you seen the amount of plain old SPAM that gets here, as well as just weak submissions? Some filtering, even if a little harsh, add

All well and good, but have you seen the amount of plain old SPAM that gets here, as well as just weak submissions? Some filtering, even if a little harsh, adds value. And I speak as someone whose submissions rarely gain traction, especially my own pages! I see no cabal or conspiracy. I see a somewhat self-selecting and "focussed" group of people with a tight-ish intersection of overlapping interests.