I can tell you that changing a relay in Amethyst and punching "Save" absolutely publishes an event. There seems to be very little consistency between clients, though, so it is easy to get it boogered up. In my case, one of those relays is Citrine on the phone, and I export its database as a backup. What I'm learning is that relays and lists are messy. Check listr.lol when you get a chance.