Do many of the staff ever get together in the chat or something and socialise at all? Or is it usually just PM's between whoever you want to talk to.
I can't answer you for others, but I personally don't. I'm just too busy with school work and stuff to sit in irc chat, so dropping messages on forum board or PM is much more easier for me. However, I wouldn't mind if we had a set time to chat, then if I happen to be on at the time, to drop by in.
I also think that (not sure) but looking at new staff members listing where they live, I think we a pretty diverse. So timezone conflict would probably be the other issue.