Yes, I did a handful of Protect the Caravan missions through the Gateway TODAY - and received no astral diamonds, raw or refined. Please try and figure this out, the Gateway is a great tool and I want it to work 100%!
The same thing happens to me frequently. I've found when I switch to a profession that I'm not currently doing anything with, and then back to the one that's causing the trouble (in my case, Leadership), it fixes it 80% of the time.
My friends and I started a small guild that may suit your needs; we use a combination of guild chat, party chat and occasionally CS3 when we're feeling chatty. We met in Everquest, back when voice chat was nonexistent - and that should give you an inkling to most of our ages. ;) Send me a PM if you're interested, and on…