Hey, it's not a grudge thing, I just think that if people have RL obligations and such, they shouldn't commit to a monthlong project. I get that people have other shit going on, but if this wasn't just a forum project, if this was a serious thing, what would folk do then?
What if this was for uni/college? Would folk still just bail out within days just because "they have other shit going on"?
Point is, you shouldn't say you're going to do something if it only takes you a couple of days to realise you can't commit. If you do do it, you should see it through to the end. Anything else is a half-assed excuse and doesn't deserve respect or being nice etc. I don't care if I get on their bad sides about it, I'm not going to sugar coat it and be nice to them because they made a stupid decision and made other people pay for it.
What Acolyte said: it's all meant to be fun. Personally, I'd have much rathered only 3 people signed up, and all three of us worked, had fun, finished...something! What wound up happening was a dozen people signed up, a week of "Oh, I intend to work hard and make sure everyone keeps up" and indecisions later, then BAM I'm left on my own. That's not fun. And that's not the contests fault, that's not the RL obligations fault, that's purely the fault of the people who signed up and gave up knowing what their other commitments in life are.