[Lexi Revellian]

I think the problem is that writers are told they need to be persistent. The old canard about JK Rowling being rejected many times (actually only twelve, and things were different then - no PCs) encourages them to keep right on submitting, however many form rejections they get. Holly Lisle recently suggested 1,000 queries as a reasonable objective.

So the same old sludge, which has zero chance of publication, endlessly circulates, blocking up the system, making it hard for the odd gem to be noticed.