What if we had one "tiering council" banner for all nine people and then you could accept new volunteers who show they're knowledgeable. It could raise awareness among active users for the tiering council and then they could be like "what is this?" And once they know, they could inform new users or point them in the direction of the council for questions. Then you could grow the council with more users who know about the tiering system so that it's a prominent feature of the site.
Maybe not tiering council banners but "tiering teacher" or "tiering expert" banners that invite people to ask questions?
Also I'd like to say that you guys are talking like you can only implement ONE of these ideas either the threads or the banners, but.... You could do both? So what are you guys arguing in that respect?
Sticky threads aren't hard to find, banners are noticed by active members, nothing in this thread would have a negative influence.
I suggest just passing in both ideas to
@doulie or
@KitaVonKanada and then seeing what sticks. Problem solved...