At present it seems that project spinoffs either
1) do not appear on the 'recent' list, or
2) they do appear but only at the time of creation rather than at the time of submission

Why is this an issue?
It seems at present there is no way for a project spinoff to appear on the 'hot' list.
Only if the KA user is experienced will s/he realize that if they want people to see
the program, they must copy and paste the code into a new program.

I think this is unfair. Because effort put in to Projects should be rewarded.

A specific example --
My program:
https://www.khanacademy.org/cs/spin-off-of-project-whats-for-dinner/5898130973523968
A copy and paste created less than an hour after my submission for evaluation:
https://www.khanacademy.org/cs/mrkrabs-as-a-baby/4568600321196032

The clone reaches the hot list

The user who created the clone more than likely came across my program via the 'next action' link to evaluate other students projects because s/he also submitted a project for evaluation around the same time.