[grzm]

I agree that keeping track of writers is important. I currently don't have an easy way to do that. Anyone aware of a source that rates journalists in a centralized manner?

I think it is important to keep in mind the publisher, as they do have a responsibility for choosing the articles and journalists they publish. If it becomes clear that a publisher has a tendency to publish low quality (for various measures of quality), I think it does make sense to take that into account for anything else the publisher may publish.