Oh, I have heard every conspiracy theory possible, both from writers and nominators.

When I'm training new nominators, I warn them not to create elaborate theories about why certain nominations weren't selected for Boost.

There's a real temptation to create a complex theory, i.e. "Stories about meat that I nominate on Tuesdays are never approved! Clearly, the curators who are working on Tuesdays are a bunch of vegetarians!!!"

That's a dramatic theory... but the reality is usually something way less interesting and straightforward like, "The curator didn't feel the story had impact." (Oh and PS: the curator totally had a hot dog for lunch. 🤣)