Wouldn't it be better to use position "none" for the copy?

An article does not have a field 'position'.
It can be done in table _content_frontpage, if the article is on the frontpage.
Make the field 'ordering' in table _content_frontpage equal to the value of the copy.
That is easiest solution I guess.

Best regards,
Peter

Wouldn't it be better to use position "none" for the copy?

I think you meant "ordering" = 0

The current code sets the newly created featured article (the copy) with ordering =1 and increments the value of ordering of all the other featured articles. This way the newly created featured article is always inserted at the top of the ordering list in 1st position

In other words I cannot confirm your reported behaviour with Joomla 5. See video below

Hello Brian,
It depends on the numbering of ordening-field in _content_frontpage.
In my case it is -998, -997, - 996 ..... 1,2 with -998 displayed as first and 2 as last in my featured display.
With the copy-article the copy is inserted with ordening = 1 and the previous 1,2 are changed to --> 2,3.
That is the reason why the copy is inserted at the end instead the top.

Possible solution:
When the copy-article gets the same ordening-number as the original article, this can be solved.

Regards,
Peter

how did you get negative numbers in the ordering

My website is converted Joomla 1.5--> 3--> 4--> 5.
I think that is the reason.

Your problem is because of the negative ordering. Everything works as intended with regular positive ordering values. This is a problem specific to your own web site. Fix the ordering and your problem is resolved.

Thank you Brian.
This fix is not that complicated and I will do.