The current crafting system is grindy, but it's another facet of the game that is so much easier for a veteran than a new player. If it were not for OOC info like the video tutorials, it would be an almost impossible hill for a first-time PC. If you've done it once, you really have very little desire to do it again, but that doesn't change the reality that doing it the second time for an experienced player is so much easier.
So once more it's an example of something very, very hard and with unenjoyable aspects that, rather than make easier and more enjoyable for new players (improve), the perk approach is to make it easier on experienced players, who it already is less of a challenge for.
Second, doing so devalues the achievement of the new PC because the more PCs selling crafted gear, the less it's worth. Merchants have to compete with one another. A new player, therefore, who goes through all the trouble of learning her trade for the first-time in ignorance and trial and error, will see her wares in competition with the veteran PC who got perked to the same place.
If crafting is an "utter chore," let's fix that for everyone--not just the veterans
Also, regarding the process of the application, it's worth remembering that we all play on different time zones, and PC arcs in the cases we're talking about can take years to resolve. Players come and go over the course of a PC's life--even DMs.
This is going to make evaluating an application very subjective and problematic. At least in asking for an ECL or PrC, the player's application is about something in the future and much of the approval or denial can therefore be about the quality of the application itself. I don't necessarily agree with the premise that being able to write a good app is an indication that the resultant PC will be well played, but what else can one go on? In the case of closure, however, what we would like to reward is actual past IC accomplishment, regardless of the player's ability to write a good application.
There is the reality of what the PC did or didn't do and an application need not reflect that at all. Yes, we can console ourselves with the thought that the DMs will have omniscience and perfect memories, but we have had decent turnover in DMs in the last year, for example. Worse, most players watching and seeing who gets approved and denied will have only the slimmest idea of whether the decision is fair.
Creating a system in which distinctions are made between players so that the playing field is objectively less level and basing it on very subjective measures is not going to "improve the overall atmosphere and attitude of the server."