Probably shouldn't reply to this seeing as it's an old topic, though as been replied to recently, but, might as well clarify for some members who may stumble upon this who don't know.
As many have explained before, dear, general was removed because so many people were spamming, abusing caps lock, and so forth. It was a very nice chat option, so that members could advertise their groups and speak with others without having to be right around them and whatnot, but, proper action had to be taken upon the rather rude actions others made. Granted I was not around for that era of FeralHeart, but I have heard and read about it a bit
I like to believe local chat is named that because of the 'local' people around you, general, for the 'general' area (whole map), group, for your whole 'group' of friends, party, for a 'party' of select few, and whisper, for you 'whisper' to someone privately.
If those option were removed, the party and group chats, and local was essentially turned into another general chat, it would be immensely difficult for groups to have a fun roleplay, without having to fight for a opening to post, as well as others who just want to have a conversation with people without having to be in whisper all the time and play telephone of who said what. Not to mention your group couldn't have a private group chat for themselves, and would resort to other mediums to speak on. This would greatly limit other members who don't have the required medium to speak with the others and know what's going on, let alone just talk and have a good time. Some can't even get those platforms to speak on for personal reasons they cannot control.
Now, the movie option is a VERY convenient way to advertise your group in a few short words, as well as speak a little when your chat is currently full with a typed up post whilst roleplaying. If one wanted to advertise more about their group, they can always give a nice description in local.
The reason why we have these chats are so that everything isn't so cluttered and its easy for everyone to communicate and have a fun time. Without the different chats, as said before, everything would be cluttered and hard to have a conversation, as well as a roleplay. General conversation wouldn't be possible, between group conversations, normal OOC conversations, roleplays, and so forth.
Just, thought I'd explain what I think ^ -^
