Right. The urgency that comes with knowing that others out there are puzzling on the same topic, working on a same-but-different mod, scrabbling like you are to finish... that's part of the charm.
Besides. Even taking an honor system approach to "I only spent four hours in a text editor", the idea is that, BOOM, you're surprised by the topic, you sit down, you mod, and before you know it, it's all over. No second chances.
It would be a bit much to think that people would be able to resist the urge to sneak a peek at the topic and mull it over for the next few days on the bus or whatever before setting out that four-hour block. But that's a different experience.
(so, uh, the answer is "no, we won't be doing that.") If the Asia-Pac lobbying bloc wants to get together 4-5 people who swear they will enter a contest if I hold it at Friday midnight my time or whatever, then I'll certainly consider it, but without that kind of arrangement, this is the best we can do for the greatest number of people.