Please be aware that the January activity check only includes posts that are dated in January.
The activity check is seven days long to allow you to finish old threads and to make sure you have the time to write up your summaries/gather your links. You cannot count threads on posts that went up after the AC, because when the activity check goes up, January has already ended! If you wait until the end of the seven days of AC to post your response, that doesn't mean that threads that posts that were made in February will count to January's activity. You have to have been active in January.
If you have used a thread from the costume ball, for instance, you will fail the January AC. The costume ball happened in February! It will count towards your activity for the month of February. It's great if you've been having fun with that, but it doesn't count for January.
If you have included a post dated to February in your activity check, please go back and update it! If you need more activity on a comment thread in January, comment here asking for help! If you even suspect you might have, go back and check your links to make sure all the posts were dated in February! You still have until tomorrow to get your activity, because your mods had 41 apps to review yesterday and there is no way we are doing ACs tonight.
Once more, for clarity: The date on the post has to be the same month as the AC, in this case January. The dates of the comments in your thread don't matter, so even though it's now February, if you get the thread to eight comments, it will still count!