seems kind of dumb - the author is presupposing what the intent was. Not to mention that it's important to have the other person actually acknowledge a conversation is happening.
how about:
A: Hi!
B: What's up...?
A: Nothing just wanted to say hi!
B: Oh, haha. How's it going?
A: I was just realizing we haven't spoke in forever. Where are you these days?
The difference is that if you want to have the conversation in real time you want to see if they're there first. It's the the same difference between leaving a voice mail and repeatedly calling.
But it doesn't really tell you if I'm available to chat -- my availability depends on context.
If a coworker texts me "Hi" at 7pm, I'm probably not going to respond until work hours. If he texts me "Hi, haven't spoken in a while, let's catch up", then I probably will respond.
Or, if I'm in a meeting and someone texts "Hi", I'm probably not going to answer since I don't know if they have a quick question or want a 30 minute chat, but if they say "Hey, what's the name of that guy in engineering that you said I should see?" then I'll probably just send a quick answer.
This is a great kind of conversation to have when you are e.g. both in the micro-kitchen milling around for snacks. The problem is Slack is not equivalent to the micro-kitchen, but to the whole office.
how about:
A: Hi!
B: What's up...?
A: Nothing just wanted to say hi!
B: Oh, haha. How's it going?
A: I was just realizing we haven't spoke in forever. Where are you these days?
=====================================================
Let's say people didn't say hi.
A: Hey we haven't spoken in forever! Where are you these days?
<< Message failed to send >>
No conversation happens.