GMs not being seen wouldn't be a bad thing...if they actually did their job. Nothing that I know of in GM rules says that they have to make their presence known to players. The problem is that combining the lack of them being seen with the lack of actual GM related actions (Bannings, Game moderation, etc.) causes this suspicion that they don't do anything and the ones that we see probably aren't even real. It's really not surprising that this is the general reaction.

Honestly I would be fine with seeing no GMs...if we knew they were around. Sometimes the biggest fear is the one you can't even see. The problem is that since we don't see OR hear from them, or at least hear about their actions...they'd mind as well not even be there. But if GMs were actually doing their job in the shadows, it would create a bigger fear of vaccing and hacking. "What if the GM is watching me and I don't even know it?" Unfortunately the answer to that question has almost always been, "They're not," because they haven't done their job in 5+ years.

It also doesn't help that they all seem to have taken a vow of silence. Is "Hi!" that hard to type? If so, I should be sweating after this post.