Your observation about the queue seems correct. Yes, I enjoy making games, but no views make me lose consistency. Currently, I only have itch as a promotion. Your words make me motivated like I got some valuable knowledge. Thanks😊
In the hopes that some fewer threads will be made. There are many games uploaded to itch, but few views on public community. But still, there is an indexing thread almost daily.
This leads me to suspect some flaw in the design of the whole indexing process. Especially if projects really can get "overlooked", but I assume this is an euphemism used by the nice mod, when he tries to help in those threads, when it really has been "too" long.
I do not approve of such a squeaky wheel approach. I would prefer the system as a whole to be improved. Because as I said, the views of threads in community are rather low, compared to the amount of people publishing and playing games here, so there can be assumed to be many more with such problems.
If the waiting times are unavoidable, maybe better information at the right places could improve the situation. Like presenting publishers with a disclaimer of sorts, when hitting that publish button. This should also include a reminder not to delete projects to redo or update the page, because it majorly screws up collections.
Anyways, have fun with your hobby. For promotion tipps there are many other threads. But to me it boils down to this: if there were an easy formula, everyone would be doing it, and everyone would be at square 1 again together. The situation is similar on youtube. There are just so many people doing it.