Giving a deadline only makes editors annoyed. You don't get to give deadlines. We give you a deadline. We say, "Our turnaround time is usually six months," or whatever it is that we say. Then, if you haven't heard from us in six months and you want to know where your unsolicited submission is, you can say, "Your turnaround time on your website is listed as six months. Are you up to date? Do you have a revised date?"

When authors sending me unsolicited submissions give me a deadline, they get a form rejection the day I open the work.

Maybe it works differently in periodicals? I don't know.