Even though there's an extra layer of anonymity in this contest, when you speak online you are never speaking into a vacuum. All the comments and critiques are read by real people, and I get tired of the whole, "Everybody flames on the internet. If they take it the wrong way they need to toughen up" argument. The things you say can be genuinely hurtful. If nothing else, they hurt me when I read them and put myself in the shoes of the person the comments are directed to. The fact that they are participating in a contest does not justify making personal attacks against them. (Though in the same vein, neither should anyone be making personal attacks against those posting negative critiques. Be respectful please.)

I won't go into the manner and justification of critiques. Y'all can use your good judgement there. But when it comes to saying things like, "This story was written in 30 minutes" or "The authors are all morons", those are making assumptions about the authors that should not be made because neither the authors nor their situations are known. I don't so much care what you say about the stories, but I do care what you say about the people who wrote them.

What are we trying to accomplish here? This is a fun contest for some amateur writers to try out writing a short story. If by the end of the contest all the entrants never want to enter a gotwoot contest again because they are so discouraged and intimidated, I would call that a fail. I would rather call off the contest completely, honestly, and do a different community activity that encourages participation and interaction.