I'm sorry, but unless I am misinterpreting your post it would suggest that you think we (as a community) favour the opinions of those who are respected and long standing members of the community? Well to answer that; When members who are, shall we say "established" in the community make suggestions they are usually a lot more applicable than of somebody who only joined the forum last week.
Now you make ask why that is? Well in my experience, people who have been a part of this specific community for a while understand how the community works, what works well, and what doesn't. Along with that they know how we as a structure operate and what members like discussing and what they don't. No offence to the newcomers, but without being a part of a community for a while you really can't grasp what its all about. That's not me getting on my high horse, that's just like meeting people for the first time and not knowing what they are like - After all, there are very few psychics.

(Its a no brainer at the end of the day that bit.)
We don't judge on who gives the suggestion, if its a good suggestion then we discuss it and make a decision, if it isn't, it doesn't go any further than the "suggestion" stage. I do believe that members making suggestions see them as suggestions and don't expect them "all" to be actioned. It doesn't really matter to me or to anybody in the community who comes up and puts forward suggestions, after all its for the good of the community if good suggestions get actioned...
Just to give you a few examples to back my little essay up;
Increase the number of PM's (Number of PM's suggestion - Suggested by a member who joined only this year and has a total of 11 posts! // End Result = Actioned
Move the Introduce Yourself Section (Move introduce section - Suggested by "the member of the month" // End result = Not actioned
Uk vs US (US/UK sections - Suggested by another "established" member // End Result = Not actioned
Is it Fake section (Is it fake section - Suggested by a new member (32 posts) // End Result = Under construction
FS section: Letting people know if a deal is brokered or not (Changes to the for-sale section - Suggested by probably one of our most senior members // End Result = Actioned
Future Addition (Future Addition - Suggested by one of our most popular young entrepreneurs // End Result = Not actioned
So where's the pattern? Where's the controversy?
You haven't really thought this through have you.. ? 