Since there isn't a suggestions page, I'm leaving this and hoping the mods will take it into consideration.
This is a matter that has been bothering me for a while, now: the Wanted/Requested Characters page! It's become a little obvious for me that people never (or rarely) check it before or after joining Clockwork. Most of those who apply by any sort of influence is either because they've been convinced by their friends in private or because they happened to be in the Clockwork OOC chat when somebody wished Character A or B would join.
I personally asked two nights ago (if I'm not mistaken) how often the players present in the OOC chat at the time actually checked the Wanted Page. And, just as I suspected, the answers were "Never" or "Rarely".
So then I asked their thoughts on having a monthly request post in the Clockwork OOC community (situated in IJ), where players could fill out a small form with the character(s) they want to see, the fandom(s) and why they want said character(s) to join. Several agreed this would be a good idea.
After these posts and at the end of each month, the list situated in LiveJournal could be updated to make sure those new to the game got a chance to see it, as well.
Perhaps making the existence of the Wanted Characters list a bit more obvious at the Application Page would be recommendable, too?