Obviously this is not 'ok' but the reality is that if you are gradudate student on the market, you may as well do it. Why? Because if this slightly accelerates an acceptance it could make all the difference. In most cases, you will not get an academic job anyway, so the actual threat of being blackballed by publications considered worthless in the real world is very low. But if getting one of these publications actually does result in a TT offer, then you are still better off with the risk of being blackballed. Further, many top journals in particular are so mismanaged that quaint notions of discipline norms are not worth upholding.
I assume this is a grad student because no one with a job really should be so desperate as to worry about a few months' delay.
Assumptions and passing judgment are not recommended.
Why is it "NOT OK" when journals take so long to even answer? Can we submit to several journals in parallel? It's like car shopping: you go to several dealers to increase your chances of finding the right car...and you stop once you get a firm deal with one car dealer.
So, my question was about WHILE they are considering the article NOT while it is being reviewed. Once a journal informs you that they would send your article out, you can write to the other journals to pull out your article from consideration. Why is this not ok?