Thank you for a thoughtful post. My reply will be in two parts:
1. Expectation management (e.g. "customer support")
2. Knowledge management (e.g. why "simple idea" is not always simple)

First, it's important to be clear that BatMUD is - and always has
been - a hobbyist game, developed and maintained by volunteers. With
that comes that we don't really view players as "customers" or perhaps
have the same kind of service culture a commercial game would - rather
we are enthusiasts allocating our limited time so that fellow gamers
can play. As an all-volunteer operation, it also means it's nobody's
"job" to address guild suggestions - wizards and archwizards are free
to work on whatever happens to feel most important to them at a given
point. Sometimes that is a player issue, sometimes a guild improvement
and sometimes it is new content.

We do read posts - and we have several other channels through which we
get feedback and ideas. And occasionally we end up implementing some
of them, or we include them as part of some larger rewrite. But that
is not a certainty, nor do we have a structured process for deciding
and stating whether something might or might not be done in the
future - again because our developers are volunteers, so coding happens
based on their interests (e.g. there is no "This is a good idea, I am
going to assign it to wizard X for implementation", and even if there
would be, wizard X could refuse). That said, we enjoy a unique benefit
compared to commercial games - the option of joining the ranks of
developers to drive the improvements you crave. To paraphrase JFK's
inaugural address - "ask not what the MUD can do for you, ask what you
can do for the MUD".

The second point concerns knowledge management - especially knowledge
about a guild or other complex game mechanic. Often, the original
author (if still active) is the best person to implement a change,
since they're most familiar with the concept and the code behind it.
For others, varying degrees of study are required to understand how the
guild's systems, themes, and code interconnect.

From experience, even an idea that seems simple on the surface can demand
a significant amount of time from a developer unfamiliar with that guild.
They must ensure that the change doesn't break something else and that it
remains consistent both thematically and technically with the rest of the
game. Some things are relatively straightforward to adjust (changing a few
numbers, for example). But ideas like "guild X needs a mastery system" or
"revamp horseback riding" are far larger undertakings than a short news
post might suggest. They require design work to ensure thematic fit, coding
the new systems, updating related skills or spells, and then testing every-
thing - what sounds like a five-minute idea can easily turn into days or
weeks of work.

BatMUD is a large, intricate game with many guilds and systems. Some
will feel current and well-balanced; others may show their age. We do
our best to fix things that are buggy or fundamentally broken, and
occasionally we rebalance or modernize older systems. However, while
all feedback is appreciated and welcome, we can't promise that every
suggestion will receive a detailed or conclusive reply.

++ Gore

Gore, in his reply, already brought up most of the important points and
diffences of BatMUD versus a more organized development of a commercially
driven game (or a indie game with smaller size of codebase, lesser amount
of diversity in developer skill and/or historical baggage.)

There is one or few more points I would like to raise, however, which I
already somewhat talked about in a personal blog post of mine recently:
How the amount of ideas, feedback, bug/etc reports from players basically
far exceeds the practical amount of "developer resources" we actually have
at our disposal.

This is an issue that cannot be easily overcome, and even if the things Gore
already mentioned weren't a hindrance in making players dreams come true, we
simply do not have the personpower to do that.

Unfortunately it is not a simple question of just somehow acquiring more
codeslaves either - just as Gore said, one does not simply jump into the
codebase to make some changes.

Thus, even luring more people to our merry(?) bunch of immortals would be a
far longer term project - with many probably dropping out and not a quick
fix to the resource problem. (Of the 23 players immorted during last 15
years, most have either disappeared/retired/are mostly idle, so success rate
is not very high.)

(Sometimes in the past when discussing these issues people have suggested
hiring people to work on BatMUD, but that is a very hairy issue in itself
which I won't even go into.)

Anyway, the problem with these .. problems .. is that we are probably stuck
in the situation and have to just live with it. This, of course, is just my
own personal pessimist-realist view - so YMMV.

--
Ggr