How exactly was the thieves guild in morrowind shrouded in secrecy? I walked in said hi to sugar lips habasi and I was already getting work.

A spell had been cast on the HQ to make it so that only thieves could find it.

The thing people aren't getting is...The guards ARE Right. This isn't a "Theives Guild" Anymore...thats where YOU come in.
Like Vex, she has you do stealing missions. The Main story is just returning the Theives guild name sake. THEY ARE Nothing but Ruthless Dogs as the Guards say...and its because they stopped doing what they used to do (You'd realize this if you listened to them talking). The guy who brings you in wants you to do things to return the Theives guild back to the glory days so they aren't just run of the mill muscle.

yea I forgot about that my orc in full daedric was destined for a life of stealth and deceit

I do wonder, their hideout is fairly well known. I guess the Imperials are too busy to just assault the place, but if they did, things would run a lot smoothly.

erh...

The Thieves Guild are Ok, man. Why do you bother yourself so much?

The Dark Brotherhood is kinda different. I agree with the guy that said "Different cultures".

Look at that: Cows are sacred in other country. Here/there it is just food/animal. But we call it COW everywhere!
so, Thieves are "mafia" in skyrim, but for US it were not in other locations. But they are thieves anyway.

Yes, this is a problem also. People farming hides to make leather bracers is destroying my experience too. Thanks for bringing me back to reality.

You don't just walk downstairs and say "Hi, is this the Thieves Guild? I want in!" You have to prove yourself, just like the other guilds. The Empire hasn't done anything about them because (until after the Civil War quests) the Empire doesn't have any presence in The Rift. As well, the guards in Riften are all payed off in full by Maven Black-Briar so they certainly arent going to oust them. I too noticed the guards knew I was in the thieves guild but I may have had a different set of dialog as they said something along the lines of "I recognize that armor, thats thieves guild wares, I've got my eye on you." because I was wearing the full suit at the time. The thieves used to be a big deal, just not anymore so there isn't really a reason for the guards to show you the boot. But they arent stupid enough to just let you have free reign.

As for the thieves guild killing too many people: Without spoiling anything there are some problems in the guild that have to be fixed and there are only so may ways of doing that. As for the poisoning of a guard, he doesnt die. He doesn't even get sick, he just tastes a little poison like you want him to. Like they say when you first join up, dead people don't make more gold. With regards to the lack of "sneaking" involved: That is only because you didn't sneak enough. I've managed to do most of the missions in the thieves guild without harming a single person. If you want to murder everyone, you can. But you dont have to.

So how do you destroy them, as a goody-to-shoes who wants to help Riften out? Storm down there and start stabbing?

Meh...good job spoiling the mission there guy...(I didn't want to talk about it, but just the basis around it). The problem is..he didn't just "Taste it". The Captain said, "This isn't WINE, This is MEAD! You don't sit and savor it! you DRINK it!"...Thats not a TASTE...The guy chugged his glass. lol He CHUGGED poison.

Same with the leader stating, "Maven asked for you by name..." Maven aint the leader of the theives guild, so him telling some one outside of the guild my name, isn't Smart. If he wants me to get things done, he won't be slinging my name around, I don't care how rich the person wants to know that info, you tell that person, "WE Are handling things...you need us to do another job?"

And na, I don't wear my theives guild armor, I put them in a chest at home and left them alone. @_@ I wear my Daedric Items I made myself. (I'm level 34 btw, and didn't use Smithing to power level LOL. I mostly used my perks in it so I can actually use make dragon armor. I'm an Orc, Sneaking-Two-Handers-Archery-Speechcraft-Conjuration-Blacksmithing-Heavy Armor are my main things I touch base on. I made an Orc Reaver/Raider with atleast one magic to play with on my first time around. I wanted to see what daedric armor looks like/dragon armor (Seeing I collected bones/scales) looks like, and the conjured demons cause I'm always a fan of flame atronach and summoning skeleton warriors. :3).

The Thieves' Guild has never been secretive in any Elder Scrolls game; your first encounter with them in Morrowind intertwines with the first main quest, for instance.