1. Changes to the voting process and timeline this year
2. Permanent challenge options - i.e. options automatically included in the 2021 schedule without being voted for
Changes to the voting process and timeline this year
So, the good news is that I'm prepared to once again dedicate a large portion of my spare time towards setting up the 2021 Challenge Schedule. I do, however, want to change things in order that it is a less stressful and taxing process for me as host. What I have found particularly daunting over the past few years is responding to and dealing with the commentary from participants on the voting threads. There always seems to be quite a bit of anxiety from participants over which options are and are not doing well, and a lot of this anxiety seems to surface in the first days of the polls being opened, i.e. when there is still weeks and weeks left to go (since I have traditionally kept the polls open for a month). See here, here, here and here if you're not sure what I'm talking about in terms of some of the commentary that the threads attract even in only just a few days of being open.
Giving it some thought, I have come up with two possible solutions for this year and I would like everyone's feedback over which would work best.

Reducing the amount of time that the poll is open for may alleviate some of the anxiety over which options are or are not performing well since the whole thing will be completed in 7 days rather than drawn out for the entire month. Users will also be able to vote anonymously (as in previous years). Locking the thread will also prevent the thread from being bogged down by worried comments about which options are or are not performing well.
On the other hand, 7 days may not necessarily give all active Challenge participants enough time to vote (though it surely would for most). Also, I don't really like the idea of the results being public as they slow trickle in. I would much prefer a private vote since that would guarantee that participants are voting for the challenges that they want to do in 2021, rather than just selecting from the ones that (after a few days) still stand half-a-chance of actually making the final cut.

This would provide a more accurate snapshot of what options participants are really interested in since the results will not be visible as they trickle in. Without possible discussion about what is or is not doing well, I would also be comfortable letting a poll like this go on for two or three weeks (though I still think an entire month is overkill). If we don't use phpBB's voting software, we could also spice up the process: maybe allow every user to have a few 2-point votes so that they can really back up the options that they really want to do. Also, you'd be able to change your mind about what you have voted for any time up until the deadline with private voting.
The biggest downside (for some, maybe) of a private poll though is that for transparency purposes, I would need to publish everybody's ballot once the voting is over. I don't know if this would really be a problem; there have never been any options in the past that I have been embarrassed to vote for, but I suppose if there were some out there who didn't want others to know that they really liked sports movies (for example), maybe this would be a problem?
Permanent challenge options - i.e. options automatically included in the 2021 schedule without being voted for
Here is our thread on the topic from last year - viewtopic.php?f=9&t=4511 - which I would recommend reading if you are unsure what a "permanent challenge" is.
In the past, I have generally been a member of the anti-permanency camp (if a challenge is popular enough, it will receive enough votes anyway), however, I feel more pro-permanency now than ever before. The reason being is that we tried something new last year for the first time that worked incredibly well; namely, we had a single ballot to vote for all options for the first time, rather than three or six individual polls. The thing is, that final poll contained almost 50 options, which is a lot to sort through. If we had more permanent options, this would lead to a less cumbersome ballot.
These options have already been voted as permanent:
Horror
Film Noir
Documentary
<400 Checks
These options have been held every single year for the past five (or more) years, but are not officially "permanent"
Directed by Women
Sci-fi / Fantasy
Silent Era
TSPDT
Western
So, what I'm interested to know is whether everybody wants those five extra options to also be permanent, whether we should have a poll about which of those five should also be permanent, whether we should remove permanency altogether and just have a GIANT ballot for 2021 options or whatever else you think. Let me know your thoughts!