When I joined TI (and for a long, long while after it!) an immense portion of my code, theme, and general game education came from visnet. Players would routinely ask questions over visnet and receive answers from both Staff and experienced players, and even if it wasn't a topic I needed right then I would find myself with a new piece of information.
I pretty much learned to play TI due the questions people asked over visnet; my questions, and just as importantly those of my fellow players. Visnet is a super valuable resource for folks learning the game (and even sometimes for veteran players!).
There seems to be a trend these days where almost no one will ask a question over visnet. Rather, "can I have a tell from Staff" "any Staff here" "Staff available for a tell" "Staff here for a question" fills my little OOC Channels box day in and day out. There might be a couple, lonely questions hidden among the pages of requests for private tells with Staff, but it's become kind of a rarity.
I totally get that there are some questions you just can't ask over visnet, mind you. Thieves with questions about thief-related things, plotters asking about plots, mages with mage queries, lawfuls with a question about a case, or any other topic involving sensitive or personal information -- not feasible to ask over a public channel. But everything else? No reason it can't just be asked on the channel intended for it, right? There's tons of knowledgeable players, and answers are more likely to come to you swiftly if they're asked of the game, rather than probing and waiting for a private tell from Staff. Even better, by asking your question over visnet, other people can benefit from the answer too!
Similarly, we have the Mage channel (OoOoOooo...). The Mage channel is effectively an anonymous "mage visnet", and when we ask questions there we help others who might also have a similar problem/need/want. Instead of sending up a request for a private Staff tell on visnet, you could ask on the Mage channel -- this helps yourself and your fellow Mage players!
tldr: Visnet is ideal for questions and answers, not just for probing for Staff tells. If it's not a sensitive topic, try asking over visnet!
tldr2:
