We could have the community come up with the ideas and refine them, and then the S&I mods decide when the idea's ready to send through to be posted on a special private board/S&A board for approval + implementation. A two-tier approach - the first tier being idea creation and refinement (deciding what the community wants), the second tier being further discussion, a yes/no vote and implementation (making sure it'd be good for the community and making what the community wants done happen). On the implementation point, once the 'suggestions council' has decided on something that should be implemented, the idea would be sent to (with all the backing of the grand influence of the council) to a dev to get it done. Devs aren't going to ignore suggestions that the community comes up with which are ALSO supported by a lot of their peers. Having a group of staff cosign an idea gives it legitimacy, and that legitimacy means it won't be ignored as easily by devs.

As for 'forcing staff' to look at ideas, I don't think you'd have trouble finding staff willing to participate - most of them actually do want and try to be helpful. It doesn't even have to be staff. It could be a clan council type gig, where all they're looking for is users that are capable of giving good, well-thought-out opinions. Not to say it should be full of regular users - there needs to be some in-the-know staff that are able to comment on things like feasibility.


I think that goes back to making that 'How to post a suggestion' idea in the prop. You could also create a 'How to make a constructive post' thread (/make one big 'How to post in Suggestions & Ideas' thread). Make it caps/tell people you'll ban them if they post without reading. Enforcement/'moderation' goes hand in hand with the implementation of any policy. If it's not enforced, then there's no reason for people to follow it.


edit: And Jodus, 30 degrees. Centigrade. The best word to describe it, in combination with the 70% humidity, is 'sticky'.