No one has ever NPCed Alfred. There has been mention of him, as in wondering if Alfred had coffee made (in a pose I made), but no one has ever RPed him as an NPC outright. We just got told by staff via we can't even mention him in RP, so there are no fucking double standards.
Now, that said, I think the rules about how you can't mention someone in your app/RP who is an important part of your character's background by name is pretty fucking asinine. First off, most of the support characters, like Alfred or a parental unit or whatever, rarely get apped. Secondly, if you app a character like Alfred, Aunt May, Helena Sandsmark, etc, you have to do so with the understanding that you are apping a character who is an important part of another FC's life and may have been NPCed and/or had things established in the other FC's background (like being related to the other character) and/or in RP.
ETA: Nothing I said was meant to ruffle staff feathers. Just needed/wanted to vent and voice my opinion on the subject.