There are many conflicting issues with this topic, and I'd like to outline a few. Diversity is not the goal of the forums. Targeted discussion is, and each of the forum headings has a specific purpose. It's common sense coming to the B.Net forums would suggest users are players - why else come here? Inviting people with no common link to the forums is an invitation for rancor and toxicity. A lot of people display no respect for others with whom they have no discernible connection. That said, it's been suggested a more stringent policy be put forth, one that allows ONLY current users to participate. That too is a mistake. It makes for an echo chamber where it's far less likely opposing views will be properly aired. I've been on both sides. I am a year one/day one player, but I took a hiatus at TTK launch because I was completely unhappy with the direction of the game. I returned when the CEO flipped because I felt it represented a change I could support, and I'm glad to say I was right. If I had not continued to be a member of the forums I would never have known, and I would have been gone for good. In effect, forums become the "limbo" for the undead players looking for their final destination. So what about toxicity? Those looking to limit access generally support the idea because of rancor, but it's the wrong approach. What is needed is targeted restriction, that is, heavy moderation. The ninjas work hard, but consistency seems to be an issue at times. That said, a little round table discussion amongst the ninjas might help clean up a lot of the rough edges, and in the end still serves as the best way to tamp down unnecessary discord. This is where the forum rules may need to be redefined. In particular forums, say for instance a year three forum on Rise of Iron, anyone can post, but if a user who is not a player begins running a recurrent theme that is not based on current play but rather anger from the past is not moving the discussion forward and should have the post removed. If the person persists, then they should be banned. Would people get pissed? Yup. Will some leave? Yup. But in the end Bungie would still be allowing discussion by all parties with the conditions A) they remain on topic and B) they remain respectful. It would be a rough transition, but one that is well overdue.

What I find curious about this idea is why would someone without Destiny or a linked Bungie.net account even want to post on here in the first place? Let's say for example your target audience for this idea are those that play Halo and not Destiny, what are those Spartans doing without a linked Bungie.net account in the first place? I had a linked account since Halo 2. But let's say that you were trying to attract those that are into neither game. First off why would they come here instead of a place like Reddit? But let's say they did. You realize that a huge fissure would immediately form right? Outsiders vs Insiders. And it would all start with that one outsider posting, "Oh well I don't play that game." in response to someone referencing Destiny. Call it the shot heard around the forums, if you will. A bunch of Guardians would then berate and belittle the poster. This would lead to the rest of the outsiders rallying around the guy. This would just cause Guardians to come to the defense of those doing the trashing, "Well why are you guys even here in the first place? This is a Destiny forum!" That would then lead some Guardians to rush to the defense of the outsiders, fracturing the community. You thought the console wars were bad......lol.....so yeah, I'm going to vote a no to the idea just to avoid a huge flame war.

I hear Reddit is nice.

While I agree with the Gaming and Off-Topic bits not needing a linked account, I think the Community one should require one. The Community refers to the Destiny Community, from the Alpha players all the way to the players Rise of Iron will no doubt bring in. In any case, Happy Hunting!

Everything should require a linked account and recent progress tracked IN THE GAME. IF YOU DON'T PLAY THE GAME GET OUT OF THE FORUMS It's a Destiny app.......anyone not playing DESTINY shouldn't be posting in it.

I think this is a great idea and if I recall correctly there was a point where you had to have played Destiny to post in #destiny, you could still post in offtopic though. I don't see why you have to have played destiny to post on Bungie.net since there's plenty of players who don't like destiny but where here from Halo.

People who don't play Destiny shouldn't be on the Destiny forums, even the ones only tangentially related to Destiny. It's that simple.

These forums should be off limit to people without linked accounts, in my opinion.

I completely disagree. All paying customers should have the benefit and exclusive advantage within the confines of the community. Specifically, the Feedback forum should require the most recent paid DLC for the latest relevant content.

There are people on Bungie.net forums who haven't played Destiny?

Why don't you ask Bungie instead of the community? It's not we have a say in the matter.

No. Even though it would be nice, b.net would just go the same way as the other infernal forums, full of spam and other nasty things.

I'm actually against that. We don't need trolls and dark web patrollers coming into Destiny just to say, "hur hur. Destiny sucks" and ruining the experience for people. They get #Destiny and #Feedback ironically enough, which are the two main threads on the website, but #gaming? That's for talking about other games which bungie.net users find interesting. That's not for COD or Halo players to come in and say, "we're taking over this thread and making it all about our game preferences." #offtopic? Really? We don't need to dilute that area any more. #Community. It's the b.net community area. Again, same issue as #gaming and otherwise. Btw, if you think the argument for saying diversity is a good thing? We have PLENTY of diversity already. Don't need foreigners running around saying, "hey guys, Xur has tentacles. Is that normal?"

No. Hell no. Notice the lack of spam, malicious links, and other general asshattery (well, beyond what you'd expect from a game forum)? That's because you can't just make an alt account to get away with that sort of thing. It also makes it harder for one of the more annoying aspects of Internet culture to show up here: the forum raid. If you think the forums are bad now, you do not want to see what happens when /b/ shows up.

This is the [u]Destiny[/u] Companion App