You're not the first to find it fishy, I published there once when I first joined and the article tanked worse than self published stuff as well, bizarre for a new writer here especially. I also didn't like that they added me to other publications as a writer without my consent. They churn way too many articles, which means anything you publish disappears pretty instantly, a few of their editors publicly resigned when I first joined complaining about the insane workload. Also always suspicious when an editor features their own work way more promininetly and in higher volumes than the other writers of the pub. Illumination is just a soulless blob, kinda like a Walmart pub. imo. Occasionally a story there might be a hit but it's probably luck/good writing/the authors other work raising their profile.