I am a frequent viewer of the forums, particularly the contest forums.
I'm a student, and I often do the contests for fun to exercise my
skills, often not even submitting them to the contest. I just like to keep my problem-solving skills exercised.
It just seems like every time someone posts a contest in the contest forum, every
user pulls out their anti-spec work argument. Not that I disagree with
them or anything, of course no career designer will waste their time
doing free work with all the risk, but it gets REALLY old hearing it
every single time.

Couldn't you post a thread in the contest forum that says 'Read before posting or entering a
contest' or something and explain to contest givers that many designers
on the forum don't agree with spec contests, and explain the ethics of
the situation to the designers and leave it at that? Every single
contest thread turns into a cynical discussion about the reliability of
a contest giver and the ethics of doing spec work. I think it should be
up to each individual user whether he or she wishes to participate in a
contest and we should be able to make that decision without the
badgering and lecturing of other designers on the forum, and oftentimes
the other designers will make fun of or make known their disrespect for
any user who does choose to participate. I think this is unfair and I
hope the forum will do something to resolve it. It makes the forum a
really un-fun place to visit with all the conflict.