Just going to back up Noxxa's post, here. Yes, the publication was my decision:
To further clarify my statements: I was aware of this run's existence from
the post made in the other submission's thread, and I was hoping this run wouldn't be submitted before that run was published, but Spike was held up on publishing for various reasons and couldn't process it until, unfortunately, very near the time this run was submitted.
Also, I never liked our past policy of rejecting runs that were improved after having been accepted and claimed for publication. In fact, that situation is quite literally
the only time I have ever had a full run of mine rejected. In a way, that actually does make the publication the result of a vendetta: The one I have against our old, harmful, elitist site policies.
And yeah, at the end of the day, the publication does not affect this one in any way. Even if it had been rejected, it still would have been used as a direct point of comparison. The only change the publication could possibly make is the judgement note on this run saying "accepting
as an improvement" instead of just "accepting".