I made the decision to create the forum. It is temporary and will last for the length of the promo. I was given feedback that it was confusing to discuss the promo within the single thread that existed last year. Members were figuring out off-FT places where the promo could be discussed this year. It made no sense to drive members to discuss something off site that they wanted to discuss onsite.
I'll go ahead and close the thread since I have answered the question.