LAST EDITED ON Mar-07-25 AT 01:07 AM (EST)
 
I don't know about the more recent lack of panels- it sounds like there weren't really any submissions.

For the initial rejection though, that might have legs. And now, it's become inertia, with a lot of now prospective panel creators not realizing its an option because it wasn't around the last flew years, and many of the rest submitting bad ideas.

There's also the possibility that with the greatly increased corporate interest in conventions since the plague years that IP and Copyright is now a larger concern.