I'm not going to be too detailed about this, but I just had an idea... I'm not totally sure whether it'd be good or not so I'm posting it to see what you guys think before I present it to the staff.

What if Kage had to approve people for higher ranks for their village?  

A little more in depth:  IC, Kage have to promote people ANYWAY, so why should starters be excluded?  I think it would be more fair, and easier on staff if Kage reviewed character apps regarding starting at a higher rank.  They'd look over it, and when they approve it, THEN the staff would review it.  This would weed out completely atrocious apps as well as put a bit more power in the hands of the Kage as to what their village looks like.  Many villages will have different standards for higher ranks depending on general skill and quantity of members.

Of COURSE Kage can be over-ruled.  If 2 staff members (OTHER than the Kage) agree, a Kage's decision can be changed and over-looked.

Is this a good or bad idea?

That's why they are allowed to be over-ruled. But if you start at Genin, you need your Kage in order to be promoted anyway.

There is a reason why this won't work in the way it is sounding to me. The reason being is simple, the system. I'm also not a huge fan of Kage's being a part of the grading system for app rank-ups, for a couple of reasons. Them being:

1.) The system we currently have, obviously.
2.) App altercation and input shouldn't be able to be influenced by anyone other than staff. It can cause way too much drama and favoritism.
3.) It just isn't needed period. When we look at our villages right now, two of the Kage's are staff already, so really there is no real point.

Now I'm going to go over the overview of the system with the rank-ups of ninja. Now a ninja can only have a rank increase under certain circumstances, some special, usually being plot related, event related, older character that missed the re-vamp, regaining an older rank to fill the village, and so on.

Normal means of obtaining a higher rank are applying for it in the "Higher Ranks" topic, if there is open space for the spot they desire, or by using experience they earn by rping and doing missions on the site. Certain ranks can only be obtained at a certain point by getting certain accomplishments IC, with having a certain amount of EXP, and Kage approval. (Exp. Jounin Rank requires: Promotion by Kage via 2,000 Experience and at least 3 outstanding accomplishments IC.)

So really, the Kage have a say in the promotion of characters already, however they need to go through the system first. As for the applying for higher ranks, that's mostly just to fill spots in villages to open up rping, while giving people a chance to start out at a higher rank. So really there is little to no need to actually involve the Kage's any further. IC character ranks can increase as the member desires to. They can work on their statistics first, then on ranking up, or ranking up first, or a mix between the two. The system we have in place has it all currently, and with the site still being small, it isn't difficult for the Kages to communicate with the staff on the subject of a member of a village, and EXP, Stat, equipment, ect are all approved and awarded through the upgrade process already. So if there were any issues with someone trying to purchase their increase, they would be altered of such at that point.

Sorry for the "Wall of Text", but that was just the systematic reasons for the idea. Not trying to shut it down, just presenting the workings to the idea. Also, right now the villages are not super populated by members. Some barely have any at all. Right now we need to focus on filling the villages in general, not restricting applications that are joining them. As the forum grows in members, and the ranks for those villages get filled, genin is the only starting rank that will be available to new members. That way they have to rp and go through the system to rank up and get stronger.

Also, there is the factor that this is a Rp forum. It's suppose to be fun and open, something to be done in one's free time. If someone is to join and create their character, join this village, and if available, start at an open higher rank, then they should be allowed to. If we tell people what they can't do, when they should be allowed to, it causes an upset and makes that person possibly not want to rp here at all. We can't have that with the current revamp and resurrection of the site. We need as many active rpers as possible to fill the villages, that way the active rpers we have now have something to do. After all, we can only do so much by rping with the same characters all the time. Character development is an important piece, and it becomes harder to do when you only have the same three people in a village. Also makes things a lot less fun.

Those are my thoughts on the subject. Sorry if it seems like a bit much.