Some people like talking to the people they're used to talking to, though, instead of having to find a different forum for every little thing they want to talk about.
I agree it would be nice to have a general discussion area here, but that makes it a lot harder on the mods because that's a lot more posts to go through. Teresa may not want people joining the board just to chat.
If anyone does want to just talk, you're all welcome to head over to my music forum at (broken link removed) where I've got a non-music discussion area.
(TERESA - IF IT BOTHERS YOU FOR ME TO PUT MY SITE HERE, PLEASE REMOVE THE LINK; HOPE YOU DON'T MIND THOUGH!)