I do like the idea of an elected Mod but, from what has been implied, that person would just get voted against by the entrenched ones. Now I don't think this would be true for a minute but you start to see some of the problems that could occur. Would we have for instance Sarnie posting about the fact that the social status idea was thrown out to all his backers in the election (not having a go Liam, just using as an example).
Some may not know that someone from before my time (he who must not be named, oh alright Val) wanted the forum just to be about the techinal aspects of the Zed & didnt want the off topic to be part of it. A lot of the current team didn't agree & the afore mentioned took the money and ran (literally). I think it gives a little insight to the fact they are happy for the forum to have a fun social side without going overboard. Perhaps a good idea would be for the ideas that are put to the team via pm are discussed & then put into a thread to allow everybody to see the reasons why they are or not implemented. Any that are in threads usually get answered in that thread.