Did you type /all? If you have all chat disabled, you can only hear people who are within 150 blocks away from you.
1) They are in spawn, you can see it and also I don't think all those people are in their faction. 2) I'm pretty sure he isn't a noob, lots of people do that automatically when joining. 3) Not everyone in their faction is going to be in spawn.
All the reasons I listed are practically global. It's just a matter of knowing the server and common sense.
They aren't in any of those. You can tell because the way the chat looks. How it shows his rank, that's public. The dark green that doesn't show their rank and says DoE, that's the faction chat.
Idk, people in Peaceful Survival are way friendly. When I try to talk in Hardcore Factions I get no reply. Well I cannot help you sorry. Only if you play Peaceful Survival. :(