Tells are the universal OOC channel for -most- muds. I know in a few (particularily Arm) that tells are merely a variant of sayto, and thus are IC, but there are other OOC channels that for all purposes, are tells.

Your point makes little sense, if you're using one of hte afformentioned means of communication, then it would be IC. But tells are something different entirely and have no IC restraints except where reasonable.