I sent a direct message to a Mod & a Support Ticket was created instead?

If you send a direct message to a moderator with a question regarding our forum, marketplace, or support desk; you'll notice that you may receive the following message in response:

First of all, this isn't a glitch, it's meant to happen.

As explained in this newbie guide article here, the reason this happens is because we've long since moved away from the whole "PM/DM/Message a mod" system we had in place many years ago. Instead, all questions sent to moderators now automatically result in a ticket being created on our support desk. There are a few reasons we switched to this system:

• Faster responses. The schedule of individual moderators vary, and because of this, you may not always receive a prompt response when you message a moderator. However, the support desk is covered 24/7, so you're significantly more likely to receive a fast response through our support desk.
• One-stop shop. No more figuring out which mod to send a direct message to or searching for a moderator who's online. We want to encourage our members to go to the support desk for any and all questions they have, which is why we redirect these messages automatically.
• Our knowledge base. Did you know that the answer you're looking for might not even require you to submit a ticket? Once we redirect a member to our support desk, many find that they can quickly and easily just search the knowledge base for their questions rather than wait for a response.
• More consistent responses. Our support agents will provide consistent answers as they all pull information from the same database, so you can expect the answers you receive to be more consistent with our rules and procedures.

BHW Guide: https://www.blackhatworld.com/seo/i-messaged-a-mod-a-support-ticket-was-created-instead.1550549/