As Unblinking says, it also removes the name/fame bias of the reviewer, neutralizes affirmative action stigma, does not encourage "opinion nullification" / general political behaviour, and will also help to remove ethnic bias. Just quality.
trogs, could you kindly not put words in my mouth? I said some, but not all of those things. If you want to make these statements yourself, that's your choice, but don't claim that I made statements that I didn't. You can insert your own foot in your own mouth if you like, but I don't care for the flavor.
1. "Removing name/fame bias is a definite plus. "
This I definitely said, and I believe it to be true.
2. "neutralizes affirmative action stigma"
I certainly never said "affirmative action". It is one of those phrases that, while I understand what it means, makes me immediately question the motivations of the person saying it because it is so often used in specious arguments.
I like the goal they are trying for, which I see as: "Let's change the publishing environment so that women have the same publishing chances as men." I applaud this goal. Women have not had as much chance, and it's not because women can't write. Limited-demographic slushpiles are not my favorite thing, but I think they have some positive effect of reaching the aforementioned goal.
I haven't heard much of a stigma on the strategy at any publication that's tried it, apart from a very vocal minority. Look at the fundraising results of Lightspeed's Women Destroy Science Fiction and tell me that there's not a readership interested in seeing this shift happen. I guess one could claim that the success of such fundraisers is due to the organizing of a secret cabal in the same way that the sad puppies claimed that the Hugos were being rigged against them before they became the heroes of their own story by actually rigging the voting themselves. But the evidence would have to be pretty convincing, and I've seen not a whiff of that evidence.
IF Artemis Rising stories were of a low quality, then perhaps I could say that the month has done the publication a disservice. IF. But, as far as I'm concerned, they have been of an overall very good quality, maybe even a tick above EP's average. I have no complaints. You do. That's fine. Fiction is art. Art is subjective. If you really dislike the stories, let's talk about why, but at this point all I've heard is opposition to the concept of the month, not about the stories themselves. If it really is about story quality, then let's talk about the stories.
3. "does not encourage "opinion nullification" / general political behaviour"
I'm going to be honest, I have no idea what you're referring to here.
What is opinion nullification?
--Are you saying that your opinion is somehow being suppressed here? As far as I know, no posts have been deleted, you have been free to say what you think, and you have said what you think. Both fans and staff members have responded to tell you what they think. But, as Matweller said, the fact is, the publication's decisions for editorial direction are in the hands of the staff, and all evidence points to there being mostly support for Artemis Rising, with a vocal minority opposing.
--Are you saying that moderating the Artemis Rising criticisms into their own thread is bad? That's good just for thread drift purposes. The main story thread should be about the stories, and this discussion has not been. I salute the moderators in keeping threads separate as much as possible.
What is general political behavior?
--Do you honestly think that your contributions here have been not-political? IMO, the only political parts of Artemis Rising have been complaints about its concept. Everyone else has been talking about the stories. Let's talk about the stories, shall we?
4. "will also help to remove ethnic bias."
Sure. But, there is a historical ethnic bias that, again, is worth pushing back against. Unless one wants to claim that the only writing worth reading is written by white dudes.
If not everyone at Escape Pod already does as Unblinking does, maybe you should experiment with a Snowblind Winter, of blind submissions only.
I have already said that ESCAPE POD ALREADY DOES THIS. It's right in Escape Pod's guidelines. A big deal hasn't been made about it on the show, but ESCAPE POD ALREADY DOES THIS. You're preaching to the choir on this point, at least.