Because you leave us boxing with shadows when you don't make it clear whether or not a suggestion is any good enough to consider. By not doing this players go off what THEY think would be good. By just doing the Yesman thing that was brought up in an admin thread I read on April fools day where you just comment "BWAAAP" or other yesmen sounds to show approval.
Yeah I understand you don't want to make the forums biased but when you just let the majority continue to spam what they like no matter how bad it is with out making it clear through authorities opinion it keeps happening.
Have a snarbolax account just post "glares disapprovingly from the shadows" for threads that come up too much and are not going to happen due to balance issues like dual wielding or things too obscure and unlike the current game to work like having cars, or even better yet, just say it yourself.
"I'm sorry but this just wouldn't fit well into the current game. It would be too much work for this and wouldn't be pleasant for most of our fan base." Better yet go into more detail. Explain every reason why it is bad. Don't get all technical, or vague. Don't just post once and never return. That is like when a teacher rarely enters the class full of students who only want to learn then leaves after only barely answering one question when so many still have some and want clarification on the last.
You, of all people, should know that this isn't a good idea.
you don't make it clear whether or not a suggestion is any good enough to consider.
They're not obliged to. A forum is for discussing things with the community, not with the developers. If you want to discuss something with the developers, organise a meeting or something.
What you actually want is for the developers to announce what they're working on (and to see if it matches up with things that are suggested on the forums) But that can't happen either because we have begrudging people in the community that will hold Three Rings to whatever they say.
Fix the community, and then this might happen.
you just let the majority continue to spam what they like
Spammers will spam. Notice how even when the developers announce things, people will suggest the same thing without reading what's been announced? Or worse, when the developers announce something, the spam increases as everyone tries to get their idea heard.
Fix the community, and then this might happen.
Yeah I understand you don't want to make the forums biased
I don't see you proposing a fix to this problem of people with developer comments on their thread getting an over-inflated ego, or people without comments feeling like their idea sucks, and the community developing an (even stronger) attitude of "That'll never be implemented, stop suggesting it".
Fix the community, and this might happen.
Have a snarbolax account just post "glares disapprovingly from the shadows"
Stem all discussion on a topic because the developers couldn't be bothered balancing it or letting the community balance it? Yeah that's a very constructive way to run a community. Even the commonly accepted concepts for "do not suggest" still get suggested. No matter how many times you shut down an idea, some clueless dope will always come and spam it again.
Fix the community, and this might happen.
"I'm sorry but this just wouldn't fit well into the current game. It would be too much work for this and wouldn't be pleasant for most of our fan base."
That's a contradicting statement. That's like before a presidential vote, cross out half the vote boxes on the ballot paper stating that "not many people vote for these politicians so therefore you're not allowed to vote for them either". Half the point of the suggestions forum is to discover what is popular or "pleasant for the fan base". If you shut down a suggestion before it even gets comments, you can't be the judge of what people want.
Don't just post once and never return. That is like when a teacher rarely enters the class full of students who only want to learn then leaves after only barely answering one question when so many still have some and want clarification on the last.
By keeping things ambiguous, you keep a topic open. Shutting down discussions with talk of "technical limitations" is horribly discouraging for a lot of people, and spawns "know it alls" who think they know what the developers can and cannot do. (I'm partially one, although I do step down when someone with more knowledge than me provides a counter-argument)
Fix the community, and this might happen.
Conclusion: it's not the developers that are the problem, it's the social limitations of the development team talking publicly. Anything they say can and will be used against them, or worse, against other members of the community, especially in a derogatory way.