You will soon understand why there are way more lurkers than posters in these threads/forums - it's a shame but people won't contribute if they're just gonna come under attack for daring to.
I will happily eat those words if this year is strop-free.
I don't get the resentment personally - if you enter an 'open' competition you have as much chance as any other entrant. If people only use these forums as a way to 'get' something they're usually the sort of people who want to take, take, take and I don't have a lot of respect for them in any walk of life. The stroppers don't own Runner's World nor the forums - though some of them seem to think they do. They can happily ignore the voting threads too just as they do the spammers and should bookmark their regular favourites if they're all they want to read.
I enter the advent calendar every year but I don't have a hissy fit if I don't win anything in that either! Entry has never guaranteed a win!
It may keep you sane if you can balance out some of the potential responses along those lines.
Ooooh - I was all tall up there on my soap box for a moment! 