i don't like this suggestion.
i like that the voting period starts after the year is fully over, meaning that games releases in December are eligible and i like that we get some extra time in the new year lull to finish up games we didn't have time for when they released before ballots are due. media GOTY season is too early, it's not resetera's that is too late
Personally also prefer voting to occur exclusively in the new calendar year for similar reasons. But perhaps others would like to vote earlier? There are quite a lot of people who only play a game or two which came out that year, so they might already know their GOTY picks earlier.
I think encouraging participation should be the primary focus of these annual voting threads, so
if there's demand for starting earlier I think it's worth considering. Voting could still run until the end of January just like now, or people who submit early and want to add something later could easily do so, too. (That said, I haven't seen people clamouring to start earlier at all, so maybe such a change wouldn't serve anybody).
