I am surprised that Dark Forest is not on the list given they have a whole section on alien life. I now judge all first contact stories against Dark Forest.
It does have Gateway on the list which had implausible black holes - so I don't think the plausibility bar is high.
Yup I would have expected to see Dark Forest because it has such a plausible universe of life and its dynamics, and a believable solution to the Fermi Paradox.
It does have Gateway on the list which had implausible black holes - so I don't think the plausibility bar is high.