Well, not really an inconsistency, but something that was always been seen as OOC.
I'm talking about the ability to chat over far distances with other people, like in guildchat or in tells. How about a telepathy glyph to be obtained from Levrus for a few coins, forming a passive realm 1 spell which allows you to make use of /guild and /tell? Either that, or a certain item, a ring of telepathy or something. I think it would solve the OOC issues concerning these features. Just an idea.