This is nice if you already know someone & have a rapport, but if that's the case, you can often skip it any way. Though distasteful to some hackers, small talk

This is nice if you already know someone & have a rapport, but if that's the case, you can often skip it any way. Though distasteful to some hackers, small talk has a valuable function, and I wouldn't design a feature in a social application that would prevent it. Though in this case, you'll probably just get people switching from "what's the weather like, Bob?" to "How bout that weather, Bob."