I think the difference might be that the other bloggers tend to tailor their blog plugs to specific requests or known areas of interest. For example, if slotownmomma had responded to the thread "Paris for a Librarian" with recommendations and a link to the strategy, I think the response would have been different.

The other concern might be the slippery slope. Sure, right now it's just ignore the one thread. But, is it 15 threads tomorrow from other bloggers?

Great point on holding off on the judging--there's no need for that. But, slotownmomma should expect that non-newbies on the board will review this and offer comments since this is on FT and newbies will be reading it. So the "My question to you is why are you here? Why didn't you just click to somewhere else? You obviously aren't a newbie and don't need any advice? Just wondering?" also isn't constructive.