Usually we run streams to help people with less ratings get more, but unfortunately things IRL have been busy this time around. To answer your question though, yes it's fair. Usually people promote their games on our Discord, and review other jam games (both commenting on itch.io and praising them in-depth on the Discord) to build up good will. Networking is the most important part and I'd recommend taking that approach in the future if you're looking to increase your ratings; it's good practice anyway.
PS. It's disingenuous to claim your late entry was due to an error on itch.io's part. It was clearly due to jam spamming, based on your comment history. If I'd seen that you were spamming, your game probably would not have been allowed to enter. So please don't do that again.