The Published date performs several functions in the LR calculation. It has a 'decay' factor built into it that causes a lens to lose rank slowly every day.

This decay begins the day after the lens is published and continues indefinately.

The best time to publish lenses: Between 12am and 5am Central USA time.

Why: The lensrank equation has a one day lag built into it's publishing time. so if I publish on Monday, the boost on my lens will appear on Wednesday. If you publish on monday night after midnight, the lens will show Tuesday's date when the LR update checks on Wednesday. This means your lens looks 'fresher' and is awarded a higher LR.

Original post by loyalis