It wasn't a stunt. You're failing to consider the context. In addition to the factors I mentioned before, it was a reaction to the fact that DS9 had fallen years behind the continuity of much of the rest of the ST novel line. When Destiny was developed as a major crossover event, unifying the 24th-century series to an unprecedented degree, DS9 characters and elements had to be mostly left out for fear of spoiling things in a series whose "now" was four or five years behind what would be everyone else's "now" from then on. A lot of people -- not just Margaret but a lot of posters here on the TrekBBS -- found that awkward. Just as you and some others find it awkward to force the series to jump forward.
And you know what? Both points of view are right. There were good reasons to keep DS9 in its own separate present, and there were good reasons to jump it forward into synch with the rest of the 24th-century books. Either way, something would be gained and something would be lost. So it came down to individual editorial judgment. Marco had one preference, Margaret had another, because they're different people. And no matter which way the decision had been made, there would be people on this BBS complaining about it and insisting that only possible "right" way to do it would be the one that wasn't done.
