Moderator rejected story now seemingly in limbo hell

[Sincerelyyours000]

I had submitted a Ch1 to a story some time ago. After a couple of weeks, it was sent back to me, rejected on the basis that I had apparently used an AI proofreader. I admitted to doing so, but also made the case that it had only changed minor errors like spelling mistakes and made the text a bit more concise, as I do have the bad habit of being wordy. I re-submitted the story, along with my defense argument, but also wrote that I'd edited it again myself, trying to make the story sound a little more like the original, but that these changes were pretty small because, as I argued, the AI help had been minor. After a few days, that story was approved.

I then submitted Ch2, and it was rejected by a moderator for the same reason. This time I resubmitted it without making any changes, only adding a message to the moderator that repeated the arguments I'd made before about Ch1. The changes I'd made to CH1 before re-submitting it were so small that I felt silly going through that process again, so this time I stood my ground. I also submitted Ch3, with a note to the moderator insisting that I'd written this story myself and that any assistance I'd received from the AI proofreader was no different than what a human editor would have done (the moderator that first rejected Ch1 had suggested I send my story to a human editor, which is apparently fine by them). It's been over 2 weeks since then, and both stories are still listed as "pending." Is it just a coincidence that I've had to wait this long, or are they purposely not reviewing my case until I make the changes that I did to Ch1. Honestly, the changes I'd made to that chapter were so superficial that it's hard for me to believe that they are waiting for me to do so again, not even bothering to officially reject the story until I do so, but after waiting this long I can't but wonder if that's the case.

If any of you have had any similar experiences or have insight on this topic, I'd appreciate your input.

 

[Britva415]

I had submitted a Ch1 to a story some time ago. After a couple of weeks, it was sent back to me, rejected on the basis that I had apparently used an AI proofreader. I admitted to doing so, but also made the case that it had only changed minor errors like spelling mistakes and made the text a bit more concise, as I do have the bad habit of being wordy. I re-submitted the story, along with my defense argument, but also wrote that I'd edited it again myself, trying to make the story sound a little more like the original, but that these changes were pretty small because, as I argued, the AI help had been minor. After a few days, that story was approved.

I then submitted Ch2, and it was rejected by a moderator for the same reason. This time I resubmitted it without making any changes, only adding a message to the moderator that repeated the arguments I'd made before about Ch1. The changes I'd made to CH1 before re-submitting it were so small that I felt silly going through that process again, so this time I stood my ground. I also submitted Ch3, with a note to the moderator insisting that I'd written this story myself and that any assistance I'd received from the AI proofreader was no different than what a human editor would have done (the moderator that first rejected Ch1 had suggested I send my story to a human editor, which is apparently fine by them). It's been over 2 weeks since then, and both stories are still listed as "pending." Is it just a coincidence that I've had to wait this long, or are they purposely not reviewing my case until I make the changes that I did to Ch1. Honestly, the changes I'd made to that chapter were so superficial that it's hard for me to believe that they are waiting for me to do so again, not even bothering to officially reject the story until I do so, but after waiting this long I can't but wonder if that's the case.

If any of you have had any similar experiences or have insight on this topic, I'd appreciate your input.

They're not waiting for you to do anything. "Pending" means the ball is in their court. If they were waiting for anything from you, they would have already rejected it with some kind of feedback about why.

A 2 weeks wait isn't out of the ordinary lately, but maybe especially for people who have already recently been identified as possible AI users. It could be that your pending stories will receive more scrutiny than the average writer because of the past AI confession.

You've done what you could - you eliminated AI-generated text from your stories and you explained so in the Notes. But yeah, long waits have been common for a lot of people lately.