Stoi:
I am not overly concerned, as I would think should be clear. I noted a single staffer online in a period of a few hours, I dropped him a pm. Do I figure on getting a satisfactory reply from him? No. Have I tried at other sites? Yes. How did it work out for me? Worthless. Perhaps just bad empirical experiences.
As for your "staff message" notion, I see no such alternative, although I do see clear suggestions as to whom to address different types of questions, too. Perhaps I am missing something on the site, perhaps, not. . .
I used to spend hours debating in "philosophy" rooms using IRC, many years ago, ~'96, I think. I learned then that it is, in one sense, a pasture for idiots and their acolytes. As time passed I read about the filth and degeneracy that seems to go on there, in certain areas. Does this apply to 'tracker support rooms'? I do not know but doubt that it does for the most part. My wife and I came to a decision to avoid such places. Have I lost anything? On balance, NO. My wife is glad I do not go there thus making family life much more pleasant. One makes certain dicta by which they operate in a given system. Do I possibly miss out on quick answers to tracker questions? Maybe, but MAYBE NOT, if the following you typed is correct: "the only ppl that have a hope in hell of knowing are the staff of IPT, and even then, maybe only 1 or 2 of them". Unless, of course those 1 or 2 have an IV drip of IRC coursing though them.
Simply put, I posted a question on the off chance that someone here might have had upon occasion a similar thing happen on IPT or even another site and might have an answer. Now I realize that according to you, the odds of this happening continue to approach ∞ even as I type. Well, maybe so, but it seems that it just might be that someone might have had a similar experience. If not, what has it cost me? Nothing. Thinking about the number of members on FST who also have an account on IPT and then reasoning from there that maybe one or two has had the same or a similar issue, I posted my question.
Finis.