Seriously, everyone needs to chill. Please be aware of selective perception:
You only see the cases that move faster than normal, you only read and worry about why they are so fast. Meanwhile your brain ignores the majority of cases that are still in process. That's like only seeing that one person making more money than you but not seeing the many many people who make less money than you.
Look at the spreadsheets and you will see most people are still in process. There is no ATIP request, no call, no worrying about some random detail in your application that will make your application go faster.
Situation:
Think of being at city hall, 100 people waiting to be called. They told you "you have to wait for an hour normally". But 30 minutes in, about 20 people's names were already called.
Some forum members here:
OMG I wonder what is wrong with me? Is it because I didn't say "hello" when I walked in? Am I sitting in the wrong corner of the waiting room? Let me run to the counter and ask what's up.
What you should think instead:
Well, they told me it will take one hour, and so far only 20/100 people have been called, so probably everything is normal. Good for those who got called early, but that always happens, nothing unusual here.
I don't want to get too meta, but comparing yourself to others too much can drive you insane, don't overdo it. There is always someone whose citizenship application got processed faster, there is always someone who got a better deal on that flight, there is always someone who got that last ticket for the Lady Gaga concert.
Is it worth freaking out about it? No.
It's pretty sunny in most of Canada today, grab a coffee with a friend, no AOR needed!
...we dont even know what process we are in now, is that a good sign?,
^_^