Oops, that was me. I'm never on IJ except for the Games. I don't feel there was anything uncivil about my tone. I think you hit the nail on the head above when you said "excessive word count." Perhaps next year you might consider putting a cap on the length? It's not for me I complain, but for the authors who are shortchanged because their stories won't receive votes because we're still soldiering through novels. No, they aren't penalized, unless they never get a fully deserved 9/9/9 just because their story isn't read in time. If I were a participant, I'd prefer waiting a bit and giving as many people a chance to read and vote on my hard work as possible, or else what's the point of entering?
I just remember last year giving us more of a break after longer entries, making it more manageable and enjoyable. I appreciate everyone's hard work, the mods most of all, but it seems to be pointless if some stories (in this year's case, a large portion of the stories) don't get the votes they deserve because people can't wait any longer for the results.