Hello Rachel, I want to express my gratitude for your candid feedback, which holds significant value for me. I recently addressed a similar concern raised by another new writer, and I believe it would be efficient to share that response here to avoid redundancy. Your point is entirely valid.

Our team of volunteer editors, who are writers themselves, regrettably do not possess the capability for extensive line editing.

Additionally, our publications are offered to readers free of charge, which constrains our ability to hire professional editors for comprehensive language improvements.

Since August 1st, our editors have indeed been paying increased attention to language errors and are now more proactive in returning problematic submissions. However, I acknowledge that there may still be exceptions to this rule, and I apologize for any such instances.

I kindly invite you to review the response I provided to another writer, as the same offer I extended to them is also open to you. Your feedback is genuinely appreciated, and we are committed to continually enhancing the quality of our publications.

Thank you once again for taking the time to share your thoughts with us.

Here is the response to another writer:

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"Hello Colton,

Thank you for providing your candid feedback; we greatly appreciate it. We have indeed initiated a comprehensive quality screening process for ILLUMINATION. However, it's important to acknowledge that assessing quality can be subjective, particularly within a diverse publication that covers over 100 topics and caters to a vast community of more than 23,000 writers while also meeting the preferences of over 70,000 readers. Achieving a unanimous consensus on quality standards can be quite challenging.

Within our extensive readership, we encounter varying expectations. Some readers seek content at a higher linguistic and intellectual level, while others prefer a more accessible style. Consequently, we have experienced writers who intentionally adjust their writing style to meet the diverse preferences of our audience. As someone with a scholarly background, I, too, adapt my writing style from a 15th-grade level, as indicated by the Hemingway Editor, to a more accessible grade 6 to 7 level, aligning with the preferences of my target audience.

Should you possess high-impact and unique stories, I recommend considering our ILLUMINATION-Curated publication. This publication is exclusively curated for experienced writers and maintains significantly higher quality standards. We have recently updated our submission guidelines to ensure that the content aligns with the publication's ethos.

If this aligns with your aspirations, I would be more than happy to guide you through the process of becoming a part of this exclusive publication. Feel free to contact me directly on Slack for personalized assistance.

Thank you once again for your feedback, and we look forward to potentially having you contribute to our specialized publication.

Here is the link to the submission guidelines for ILLUMINATION-Curated.

https://medium.com/p/fbee745611f9

"