Not a drawback as far as I’m concerned. If I see SPAM - it’s gone. Asking for private help - sorry, start a Topic, Something related to the forum that they’re too shy to voice openly - help them
That indeed could be a messy thing to code
Moderators can always Invite other Mods, Admins don’t need an Invite
??? sorry, I don’t know what you mean by that
Anyway, what you are describing is having a category acting as a PM
And I don’t know, but it seems getting it to be visible to only the OP and Mods would likewise be messy to code.
We have opted for a more explicit “you can reply to this Welcome PM” for the time being and put the concern on the back burner.