I see no problem with chat, it just makes things seem more friendly and welcoming to new players, so long as mentors are stopping to help new players when they DO ask questions of course. I see no reason the channel has to be kept silent at all other times.

I do agree we should be able to leave and enter chat at will though, I like to help out, but when I am running dailies etc. there is no reason I should be using one of the 100 mentor spaces when I'm going to be silent for an hour or so.