I'm probably going to go against most people by saying this, but I'm totally fine with general being gone.
Sure it's lonely sometimes without the random discussions and catching up through the green chat, but I have seen a little bit more of that FeralHeart where people used to gather up across Fluorite and roleplay with others for the fun of it, without flashy announcements and 'Who has the most members' competitions, sometimes even getting the occasional random lonely guy hop in there without getting chased away.
I can say that without general, I've made new friends whom I would have probably not seen before. I'm the lonely type who doesn't join big restricting and "MUST be ACTIVE" groups, I rather simply walk across fluorite and see who I meet. Sometimes I get to practice my roleplaying skills, other times I get to have a nice conversation with a group or another solo player and more often than not, I make new friends with people I meet every day I spend wandering. In my 2 years on FeralHeart, I used to love getting on simply to see what roleplay I could stumble upon or what is that group talking about, etc...
Not that this was any different when general was here, but it was a LOT less prominent. I used to walk on hour's end and I saw no sign whatsoever of small random roleplays. Everyone was out advertising on general and when I used to walk up to packs in hope of roleplaying, I got a nice: "Our territory, out!"
What's worse was the advertisements. I once joined a group that seemed promising. We roleplayed for thirty minutes before we were told to advertise for 'more' members (as if 23 members just "wasn't enough"). For the entire day, we did nothing but shout in general "Join our awesome pack! Etc..." and this went on for a week before I declared that I had enough and left.
To me, this is a nice, refreshing change to the typical routine I had of going on and going off. I do hope members will grow accustomed to it, as I do enjoy the respite from constant trolling and arguments. I am also very grateful for this change as I have been able of finding some of my friends whom I haven't seen for months and getting together for roleplaying, even attracting others (something not possible before, as very few people were groupless and willing to hop into a roleplay).
I obviously do not get on at the same times as other people here, so what I have said might have been or might have not been already experienced by others. I am just stating my opinion that I like the change, nor do I want anyone on my back trying to convince me that I am oh so wrong. I have seen these changes while I've been around and while I wasn't that involved in the community, I probably will come around like before. It's because of this change that I "came back" so to say. Usually I would log on, see what's going in game before going back off, I felt incredibly bored because no one in fluorite had a daily non-restricting roleplay. It was all big flashy groups of 30 or more players that lasted for months with MUST be ACTIVE daily, so no wonder I lost taste after being 'forced' to roleplay when I didn't feel like it, just to stay in the group in case something interesting happened (because other than groups it was the VOID of boredom).
But yes, for the long run I think it might be beneficial for people like me,
Thank you for reading.