I'm happy to report I received my first response the other day from one of my submissions. A very curt "no". More specifically,
Thank you for submitting "Your Story." We appreciate your interest in OUR WEBSITE.
Unfortunately, it is not quite right for us. Best of luck placing it elsewhere.
This tells me a few things. 1) I wasn't careful in choosing the right location for my story. My fault, not theirs. 2) I need to familiarize with the website/magazine ahead of time so I'm not waiting 2+ months to hear back with a form response saying "this isn't for us."
However, even if I do send it to a site/magazine that features stories like mine, there's still no guarantee I'll even get a response other than a form letter like I got this time. Form letters are the name of the game, especially when submitting to large publications. They just don't have the time for individual responses.
Either way, I'm still glad to finally have my first response, even though it was no (and there will be plenty more anyway.) That just means I'm one response closer to my first yes.