Declined?

[The Tickle Pickle]

How would we know if a submitted issue is declined?

[The State of Communism]

They don't telegram you. They will telegram you if yours gets approved.

[The State of Communism]

At least that's what I have been led to believe.

[Candlewhisper Archive]

That's correct.

The stickied FAQ addresses this:

viewtopic.php?p=8141621#submitted

[Noahs Second Country]

I'd recommend you post the draft on the forum first.

[The 19th Century]

Even if your issue is accepted, sometimes it can take a long time before you hear anything. One of my issues recently got added to the game, but it was a couple of months between when I submitted it and when it got added, and I didn't get any TGs about what was happening in between. It was just "Your issue has been submitted," a couple months of crickets chirping, then, "Your issue is live in the game."

Other people that have written issues say they had similar experiences.

[Candlewhisper Archive]

Marriage By Proxy Server, right? Good issue.

My own practice is that every issue I edit gets a telegram to the author showing the first edit and explaining the reasons behind it. About 50% of authors respond and converse. However, this is not standard practice, and is something I did as my own eccentricity rather than as part of the expected process. The expected process is still as you describe it, with the first indication of acceptance being publication.

Having said that, I consider it a great compliment that a lot of other editors have started echoing my approach, some of them all the time, some of them part of the time. Either way, editor approaches vary massively, so there's no real expectation to be formed here: just send in your issues, and if you see 'em, you see 'em.

One thing I can say is this:

If you draft in the GI forum, take at least a few weeks to get feedback, respond to and listen to feedback, and wait until you get told that it's ready to submit by experienced folk (including editors, but also including published authors) then your chance of making it into the yes-pool is about 95%, and right now, for the first time in years, the yes-pool is being published and emptied faster than issues are going into it. There's still issues in there over a year old, but now a drafted issue that gets good feedback is likely to get published in the sorts of timeframes that work for positive feedback.

OTOH, if you submit without drafting in GI, you MIGHT get added to the yes-pool, but the odds of making it in are more like 5%.

In other words, if you want to get published, draft in GI.

[The 19th Century]

Marriage By Proxy Server, right? Good issue.

Yes, that is the one.

If you draft in the GI forum, take at least a few weeks to get feedback, respond to and listen to feedback, and wait until you get told that it's ready to submit by experienced folk (including editors, but also including published authors) then your chance of making it into the yes-pool is about 95%, and right now, for the first time in years, the yes-pool is being published and emptied faster than issues are going into it.

Obviously, we need to send you more issues to refill it.

[Candlewhisper Archive]

That's what I'm hoping!

[The Tickle Pickle]

Thank you, never really participated in this side of Nationstates before, so mind my ignorance,

[Australian rePublic]

You don't. You just know that it hasn't officially been added to the game yet