Would a 2000-2021 ML paper even get accepted today? [D]

I keep hearing some version of this:
“A paper that got accepted years ago wouldn’t stand a chance today.”
Honestly, for a lot of ML subfields, this doesn’t sound crazy anymore.
A paper that once looked solid can now look under-evaluated, under-ablated, weak on baselines, or just too obvious.

So maybe the real claim is:
A mediocre accepted ML paper from years ago would probably get rejected today.

Do people agree? Has the bar actually gone up, or has the field just become more crowded and more competitive?