I see a lot of threads about suggestions to change the shard. Some of them have lots of good ideas/bug fixes in them. Some of them have lots of bad ideas/anti-uo-custom-content/code nightmares. So I wonder: How do the shard staff separate between the bad ideas and the good ones? Are they aware of the threads with the good ideas? How are they made aware? And has there been a lot of changes based on player suggestions so far? I often think of ideas to help the shard which I believe are good, but I almost never post them anywhere because I figure the staff are already severely overwhelmed with a huge to-do list of changes/additions and that the last thing they need is more input... Am I right in thinking this? Or would the input of one as lowly as myself ever have a chance to be implemented? Also, I think there should be a sticky thread in the suggestions forum with rules on suggestions. Simple rules that filter out suggestions that the staff probably already unconsciously filter out themselves, like no item insurance, no blessed weapons/armor, no excessive custom content, no trammel, no etc etc. Perhaps the sticky could also include the direction the staff plan on taking the shard, and what kind of research and creative input they desire most. The most powerful resource for the sustained health and growth of the shard is the combined insight of the entire player base, as long as it is used and managed properly. How we make and manage our suggestions and how we organize and value them may be more important to consider than the suggestions themselves. One last, extra, thought: On a lot of shards I have seen that because every idea is argued, nothing is ever changed. I hope that suggestions get implemented on this shard even if they aren't unanimously approved of. There will always be a nay-sayer with a reasonable point or two even with obviously beneficial suggestions. but it's better to implement, at least temporarily, a highly disputed but important suggestion to the shard and see what happens, then to leave things as they are. There are very few wholly positive changes that everyone will see the benefit of immediately.
