Board Thread:Off Topic/@comment-25396609-20171201175923/@comment-30530552-20171220044319

Generally you'll want to have it set up by the first day of the next month (in this case, it would be Jaunary 1st) give or take a day or so. This would usually be based on UTC time. You'd then give however much time you'd like, so long as you save enough time for judging, since it can take longer than you expect at times.

As for standardized formats, typically you can copy from the previous opening posts and make a few minor edits as they pertain to your theme.