I disagree.
The "ATPAYAQ" threads serve as a kind of informal mixing pot, an area in which staff, established users, and new users can mingle together and get to know each other.
It serves two purposes: 1) to demystify staff and old users to normal users and newbies and 2) to allow users to get to know each other a little better in ways they otherwise wouldn't have.
As Reject pointed out, if you're going to lock the ATPAYAQ threads, you may as well lock the "Ask a Staff Member" threads as well, which in my mind is just a bad an idea.
Both of these threads help establish inter-user communication, something that I see as incredibly useful in a site in which the main source of communication is literary criticism.
Oh, and before somebody mentions chat, I should point out two things: 1) not everybody can get on chat and 2) chat isn't exactly the most conductive to the kinds of personal contact seen in the thread. Especially if you're a new user, asking staff or old users random questions, or even trying to engage in conversation with them, is an incredibly nerve-wracking experience, and one that most users do not participate in.
One last thing, since this post has gone on, and has rambled on, for longer than I intended: there are two ATPAYAQ threads. The second one arose because the first one had over 190 pages. I think the continued popularity of these threads indicate the strong interest in the thread on the part of the userbase.