I think apps nowadays are too hard. Who cares if there's little back story initially, just let em in, and we'll teach em the ropes through RP interaction. Applicants should not have to spend one hour reciting server lore to be accepted.
Apps should be harder. I'm sure it's not a popular opinion, but if someone fails such an easy app 7 times, dare I say they do not belong on this server.
Please no. I want new players to flesh out their characters before joining or they'll never get any RP by our high standard playerbase. And I want new players to have a damn good understanding of the server rules.