I received a response (hides). I created a new topic, followed the instructions, and posted/answered the template questions in my message. My account was flagged and once the flag was removed (and I worked through a few other issues on my side), I started earning BAT for ads.
If anyone has submitted a support request using the template, you might want to tag the moderators. Because of sheer volume, some requests get overlooked.
https://community.brave.com/t/why-everybody-is-silent/327112/6?u=chocoholic
As far as payouts, the Brave-Gemini integration problem didn’t help. Now Gemini is down on their side again, which is probably going to hold up deposits to Gemini even longer!