So, I accidentally uploaded two duplicates, not sure how I made that mistake but on reviewing the photos... exact same file, exact same meta, exact same filename. To my amazement, they were both approved.
I find the inconsistency the most frustrating part. There are clearly problems with the approval system.
Inconsistency is because of AI; software program full of bugs, with tweaks - and new bugs - introduced daily. Whatever passes by AI does end in Human Reviewer basket, but he/she most likely doesn't even check anything - just transfers live. Human check might happen only for Illustrative Editorial because it's more sensitive
Besides inconsistency, lack of transparency ("please tell us what is going on") is the frustrating part. What I would do is compose carefully crafted announcement, post here as well as chain email to all contributors. It would go something like this:
Dear contributor:
Due to success of Adobe Stock Platform we are overwhelmed by amount of contributions that seems to increase daily. This has caused review time delays. We are in the process of automating parts of our review process, that besides Technical quality is also designed to ensure unique content. Platform is still in experimental stage; we apologize for inconsistencies and mistakes that creep in. We are also modifying system to provide more details about cause of rejections. We appreciate your patience and thank you for helping our Platform with your contributions.