okay, after crunching the data, and getting some time to make a proper reply, here's what we're going to do:
short answer is, we're going to continue to go with the one stickied thread for all happy bday wishings.
now you may notice from the poll above that that isn't the option that had the most votes. sooooo here's why I'm going with option 2 over option 3.
First off, the lack of forum user participation put me off. I know very well for a fact that there are more than 94 people who use the forums. And I know that more than 94 people care to voice there opinion on polls when they are given the opportunity to, as some of the polls Xillix has started, more than 200 users have voted on the subject at hand. So this tells me that the majority of forum users just don't care. This leads me to believe that the majority of forum users would rather just trust my judgment on this issue, and feel they are comfortable with whatever option I choose.
For the people that did vote, the same amount of people that voted for the joke "throw my vote away and do whatever you want with it" option, also voted for the first option, being to have no bday threads at all.
When I made the 4 categories for the poll, I broke it down as such: option one was for the people who dislike bday threads in general and don't think they should be on the forum. These people get most upset if option 3 wins, becuase they'll see happy bday threads all over the place. Option 3 was for people the exact opposite of option 1. They like lots of bday threads and get most upset at the thought of having no way to say happy bday publicly. Option 2 was for the inbetweeners, they think that just one thread for all bday wishes would be the best, as it's more than option 1, so they are able to say happy bday to someone if they want, but it isn't as bad as having an entire forum section filled with happy bday threads. Option 4 was for people who wanted to vote, but didn't care what happened, which shows me they are content with any option I choose.
So going by just the votes cast, and trying to maximize the amount of content forum users, I should add the votes from option 4 to option 2. And by doing so, option 2 has the most people happy with that decision, and while the people who voted for option one won't like it that there won't be any bday threads made, they won't be as upset as if option 3 were selected. And similar thinking can be said to the people who voted for option 3.
So, to maximize forum users happiness in regards to the bday issue, we're going with option 2, as option 2 came out ahead in either way that you look at it. feel free to take this issue up with the new global moderator when ever I step down, when ever that may be, but while I'm "in charge", seems we're going with option 2.
![Smiley :)](https://www.hydlaaplaza.com/PlaneShift/smf/Smileys/custom1/smiley.gif)