You know, i can honestly say that i very rarely, if ever, contact an affiliate rep for any of the programs i promote, i usually end up going directly to the program owner.

That being said, i would imagine it makes life easier if the rep has several methods of being contacted, AIM, Yahoo, ICQ, Email, Etc and that his/her contact info is put on the affiliate programs site somewhere.

Then there is participation on the message boards, an active rep is (i would imagine) going to be much better at putting out any potential fires than someone who is 'anonymous' to the programs potential affiliates.

Regards,

Lee