c-s I agree, posting an extra thread in Hot Topics is a **GREAT** idea! I think that stickys are almost always missed by people, because they so very rarely change.
Stickys are generally supposed to be the "most important" threads in here, but it's sometimes taken me six months, a year, or more to see sticky threads - even in Forums that I often go to.
I've asked before, but I was wondering if the vBulletin software supports a type of "sticky" which would appear within the main summary of all Forum posts, and AUTOMATICALLY BOUNCE BACK to the top of the summary every time it drops off the front page, so it would always appear somewhere on the front page. This would of course be used for stickys which have some sort of "timely value" such as this one which is relevant only up to the days close to Christmas. After the timeliness part has expired, the sticky could presumably be retired, or turned into a "regular sticky" which would be in the small section above the Forum.
Of, even this in preference to what we have now, the stickys used to be at the top of the Forum, but not in the separate small section. Maybe "timely stickys" such as this one could be put first in the Forum summary queue, and the small section on top would be for "permanent stickys" or something...
OFF TOPIC A BIT...I WOULD ALSO SUGGEST A "TIMELY STICKY" ATOP THE BUSIEST FORUMS (HT, Fun & Games**, C E & P, Amateur, etc.) when a JUB meet is planned. I know that some people here (BUT HOW MANY??) agree with me that JUB meets are arguably the most important event, derived from this Site, that can ever happen - and it's a pity and a shame that the amount of publicity for these Meets is absolutely *ZERO* in here!!! I assume that the vast majority of members aren't even aware that JUB meets have ever happened, because the Forum is entirely hidden, near the very bottom of "View All Forums," and is not even available on the smaller dropdown menu.
I have very few complaints about this site, but my complaint about this aspect is MASSIVE.
[EDIT: "Gun & Games"??? Wow, that was a goofy typo]