Whoa, I never realized my 1 post would create such a spiraling debate just from that.
Firstly, I think everyone's getting carried away with the issue of things needing immediate attention/emergency...
You're making it out to be too serious. I was talking more about the little things. I'm not sure if most of the mods know it or not, but when contacting a mod, the main purpose is not to spam as many of them as possible with pm's. Over the last few pages I've been seeing comments regarding pm'ing everyone in a mod team or something when someone has an issue (of any kind), but I don't think thats a feasible or intelligent course of action. I don't know about others, but I prefer not to get through a lot of pm's, there are only a limited space for them available, so I feel, the less I get the better (there's more that can be said regarding this, but I'll leave it there for now).
This is why I usually prefer sending wall post. And this is where I think everyone need to look at it at a smaller level. There are numerous examples, but here's just one off the top of my head: 'New member isn't sure about various features of the site, he/she finds the forums intimidating - doesn't feel like going through the different threads to find out the specific details, he/she see's a mod online, sends a quick query on the wall, the mod is helpful: replies, and/or directs him to the correct location to find out the info the member needs - Problem solved!' (This is just something I can recall from my early days in CC where I would've liked to do it this way, but shied away from attempting to do so. Wanted to do a similar thing when I was curious about premium, but in the end went the long way around by actually going to the lengths of pm's Andy)
The other intriguing aspect I find is the issue of privacy which I find repeatedly throughout the thread. I don't understand the exact reasoning behind why privacy is related to being seen online, and I can't really comment on this personally, but I think this comes from a worry of being spammed/bugged by members. My initial reaction to this is that this is one of the trials of being one of the leaders of the cc community and is something that comes with the territory. However, I understand (what I feel) the response by the cc 'admins' (the big bosses) wanting to protect those that have made the effort to volunteer and serve the community from being 'attacked' or swamped from various forces. I see it simply as being where one side feels that the mere fact of you being a mod means that there is no reason for you to hide from those you serve; while the other side feels that the mere fact that a mod took on the responsibility of being a mod and all it entails, that they shouldn't be forced to listen to every 'whining' member of the community.
(Again there was more I wanted to say, but it seems I've lost the thread of my minds thoughts after writing this wall of text - And it's happened quite a bit lately, I have the excuse now of it being past midnight tho)
Also, please note, I'm in no way attacking anybody, I've just posted as I saw it, And I hope my contribution was in some way worthwhile...
Edit: And also, regarding Q&A, and going back to the earlier mention of wall posts and pm's. In that if a mod is online they can just be queried quickly, a response can be received (since the blue message would come on, and be instantly seen), and everyone can go on their merry way. The wall post can also be deleted pretty quickly as well once the problem has been addressed. So it basically adds up to being a quick, painless and hassle-free endeavor (which is basically the conclusion I was aiming for with my initial post.)
I've gotten into the habit lately of just going into chat and asking the mods there about all my various q's (which I'm sure irritates the hell out of them

) but since it actually took me a year to get to that point, I can see others having difficulty going there as well, and obviously sometimes none of the mods are on there, which is why I just feel that knowing when a(ny) mod is online, makes (CC) life easier for all.
Btw, if anyones interested, you could also go into it by looking at mods etc as a form of government and how the interactions between the CC community and mods compares to any relationship within the 'federal government'...