There are some thread-active chars who rarely update or acknowledge other chars' entries, too, and that can lead to inactivity and cliques and such, y'know?
This so much.
That said, I know I´m not the most reliable person (>.>) but I read all the journal entries and comments to them either way, therefore keeping track of those wouldn´t be that much of additional work.
(I wouldn´t be worried about new people right now, though. I feel like new characters wouldn´t have much to do until at least mid-August...)