I've read through the responses of this thread and understand most of the thoughts and concerns around this topic.
I will be honest in saying that I do miss General chat, and I don't see why we shouldn't bring it back. It did have its pros and cons, but I never saw it has too much of a bad place to chat with people. Yes, there were people who did abuse it by posting spam, trolling, and bring some questionable topics into the chat. I've even seen hostility go down in General in the past, but it would sort out either with the users blocking one another or a moderator stepping in to handle the situation.
Isn't it like this with local chat too? Let's face it, things like this can occur in any chat within this game. There will always be people who will try to spoil things for everyone, but it's up to us as individuals to act accordingly to handle these situations.
Some say they don't want General Chat back because people will abuse it by spamming, trolling, breaking rules, younger players "not knowing better", etc. There are solutions for most of those problems. Back in the old days, if someone were to spam in General, I would just BLOCK that user temporarily, or I would turn General chat off. That block button, and the options to turn off certain chat channels are there for a reason. If someone were breaking the rules in General chat by swearing or bringing up a topic that has no place in the game, I would either BLOCK them or REPORT them, if necessary. The moderators were not always around to see these rule breakers, so it was up to us the players to send in a report so they could be dealt with. Don't we do the same things for Local chat too? If we see someone spamming, trolling, in local chat, we would do the same thing, right? How would General be any different? A moderator is not going to be around 24/7. That's just a fact of life. When they're not around, it's up to us to report any rule breakers and bring it to the attention of the staff.
For those who brought up the concern of younger or newer players not knowing how to use General chat, why not teach them? That's what happened when I was a new player here. The more experienced players taught me of the different chats and how to use them.
I don't see why we can't have General Chat back. As others have said, most other MMO games have these kind of chats for a reason, so why can't we have it again? Yes, it had pros and cons, but it's the same with any other chat game. It's just up to us the players on how we handle the situations we come across.
In any case it would be nice to have General Chat back.