I think a thread marked "general discussion," should be allowed to have general discussion, not just conversations limited to FFXIV. People make off-topic posts already, might as well allow them as long as they are marked (Something like: Did anyone see last night's Dexter? [OT]).

As a result, more people would be likely to use the other boards. If you came to GD with the intent to talk about guildleves, and saw a bunch of people talking about other stuff, you'd probably be more inclined to take the discussion over to the appropriate board, right?