Like many here, I'm assuming my item is still in the running, though some of Erik's and Clark's recent comments are finally starting to stress me out.
Running with that assumption, I've been envisioning what this contest will look like as I work on the next submission. In doing that, I was wondering if there will be a separate message area where the contestants can chat amonst themselves if they desired, or if some way for them to contact each other would be possible. In my fantasy of how this contest would run, I'd see it as a friendly (though serious) challenge, and I know I wouldn't mind helping where I could on someone's entry if they wanted an extra set of eyes, along with appreciating the ability to do the same with my entry. Heck, I'd even love the option to toss ideas around with another contestant to see if it would improve both our entries. Doing that sort of brainstorming in the public space seems inappropriate at best.
I realize not everyone would want this sort of pre-exposure, but if there were a small number of us that did, would the allowance of that be possible without having to, say, post our email address to the main public board?