I like the phrasing of this, it sounds like something a real old crust would say..."Hey neighbor, criminy,  why don't you do what the whippersnappers do with this Featured Topic Gimmick..."

Timing of rotation is fine. Problem I see is that the same type of topics return again and again, especially popular culture topics such as movies (which I don't really care about) and sports personalities. Let's get more variety.

I don't consider this gimmicky, but I agree that more frequent rotation of the Featured Topic can help keep the site feeling fresh and interesting. A well selected new topic inspires both regular and newbie raters to dive deeper inside.

It would be nice to see more featured topics to rate. there have been times when a featured topic has been around too long.

The more often it changes, the more visitors get to see new stuff, since not everyone knows how to wander through and find what they like. Not a bad idea...

Yeah, they do seem to stay up there for a long time.

Honestly, I really don't look at it all that often; when I do check, it seems like it rotates on a fairly regular basis.

Couldn't care less. Never look at it.

My interests on this site are typically a) talk about or check out reviews on places I've been or want to go, b) sports, c) ramble about something unimportant. But d), which is to comment on a featured topic, does suck me in sometimes. I would imagine it's similar for other users. I think it would be fair to say if you rotate this more, people will leave more comments.

God this thing has a tendency to never change for weeks! It can get annoying sometimes...