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Brillyant comments on Handshakes, Hi, and What's New: What's Going On With Small Talk? - Less Wrong
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It seems like that might sometimes lead to an awkward exchange. I suppose there is an art to remembering, and knowing when to use, the information you are asking for in a way that is logical and comfortable in conversation. Though anything tends to be better than...
A. Do you play sports? B. Yes. A. Which? B. Baseball.
Conversation failure mode. Of course, some blame fall to the questioner for asking closed questions, but good conversationalists can turn weak questions into strong conversations with good technique.
Closed questions bias the conversation in addition to making it clumsy.
Doctors try to maximize the information they get from a patient by using open questions. Only after it's clear what the complaint is, they make precision strikes with closed questions. It's very easy to bias the patient and get a wrong diagnosis if you're not careful.
I suppose in a casual setting the bias will be even greater because the other person is deliberately gauging what kinds of things you would be pleased to hear based on your questions.