In the case of already published story….

What if an author clones the story in a new article with exact title and details and submits while their already public story continues to get views? Medium uses unique URL schema so there won’t be any URL conflicts. This lights a fire under the editor’s end to get the story published at which point author discontinues their original story? Mutually assured time gap killer? Just a thought.

For brand new submission…

How about waiting a week to most two and then pulling out. I think that sounds fair to me. What do you think?