Justin
Not sure what you are referring to in the docs for hook_form_alter but here
is the relavent code
from form.inc, function drupal_prepare_form().
$data = &$form;
$data['__drupal_alter_by_ref'] = array(&$form_state);
drupal_alter('form_'. $form_id, $data); << Form ID specific call
// __drupal_alter_by_ref is unset in the drupal_alter() function, we need
// to repopulate it to ensure both calls get the data.
$data['__drupal_alter_by_ref'] = array(&$form_state);
drupal_alter('form', $data, $form_id); << General call (hook_form_alter)
Nevets
