I have a very simple, but (I think) helpful, suggestion for the forums.
I would be willing to bet that 99% of the questions posted to the "Linden answers" forum could be answered by residents, but they are required to be answered by Lindens because of the nature of that forum.
Simple solution: Change the order of the forums page. Put the "Resident Answers" forum FIRST. That way people will be much more likely to post their questions there. The Linden one is, IMO, frequently used simply because it's the first "answers" forum people (especially Newbies) see.
Lindens are Very Busy People, especially these days. Residents simply have more time to supply answers, there are just a lot more of us available. The great majority of these questions simply do not need a Linden's "official" answer, and if they did the residents could steer the questioner to the right place.
I so often look at questions in the "Linden answers" with a fat zero sitting in the replies column, when they could have been answered by a resident within minutes. I think that if the forum listings were just rearranged this wouldn't be nearly so much of a problem.
Consider it please?