I think what we are seeing is the law of the internet. The crazier the comment (guess, in this case) the more you can stand out.
The higher point guesses have to assume that a larger number of applicants with 6 or 7 or 8 points decide that NOW is the time to draw that General tag despite being at a point level to draw it with 100% certainty for the past 5 years. That is illogical. It would be funny if it happens, but probably not a reasonable assumption.
Looking at the data I have, there are some 170,000 point holders, about 60% of them are going to have less than 4pts going into 2024 draw . Most of the general tags applicants are going to be clustered in the 4-6pt grouping. I think everyone assumes that the price hike in the Special will cause applicants in that pool to drop while increasing those in the Regular. If we assumed that everyone in the Special draw jumps to the Regular draw and use 2023 results, we "only" jump about 1.5pts. Crazy stuff happens all the time, but if I was to bet on something crazy and unexpected, it might be that Special applications actually increase.