do the gurus actually look at this forum?

Keep in mind their Twitter is also listed as as an official forum for EA and the Sims. So it is just as official as the individual forum - but it allows access for everybody the individual forums do not have to because of the language barrier. These official forum you have to read and write in a language for the countries they represent - but twitter makes every post possible to be read buy offering universal translation and goes around the world. These forum have blockages not found on twitter.