We're making a bit of an off-top here.
Yes, indeed, the ASW Challenge lasted for 3 months, though it also had a judge who could say "okay folks, from now on I'm not accepting any new submissions" etc. On the other hand it seems that SSC/SSK Challenge is basically finished - but formally nobody said it is and practically there is no way to guess one way or the other.
I'm not going to be stubborn about that "month od six weeks" - that was just an idea/example for discussion. What I meant is to have some clear set of rules about it - ESPECIALLY when there are no judges for the particular Challenge (IMHO Challenge with judges could have some totaly different - custom set - deadline).
Maybe Moderators or Admin could split that discussion into separate thread, so there wouldn't be an OT in this Challenge, while this potentially significant discussion (assuming that other Shipbucketeers would express their opinions) could continue for mutual benefit.