In light of lack of staff availability, they have lives and stuff, we'll start towards implementing a new approval system that should speed things up once the wheels are adjusted properly. It requires member participation and also thoughtfulness however. The system is simple and all it requires is two actions.
When making a topic that requires staff approval, create the topic as a 24 hour poll with the voting options Yes and No.
Using your discretion on what you think is acceptable and unacceptable, vote on unexpired polls created by fellow members.
To start this will work as a guide for moderators to know how well received an application (skills, equipment, voyage, etc) is or isn't. That said, the application will still face moderation if moderation is needed. From there it is up to the members to make more accurate poll results on what they think is acceptable and unacceptable. Once we see the polls are aligning closer to how staff moderates (based on an undisclosed ratio of yes to no) applications that meet or exceed this ratio will be treated as 1/2 and only require one additional approval.