ABSOLUTELY!

In general, I think the bar for posts in Discussion is way too high. After all, if you want to have a discussion, the only thing you really need is a question.

Edit: Obviously there's value in starting off a discussion with something more than just a question, and that all else equal, you'd prefer to start the discussion with more rather than less. But I still get the impression that the general atmosphere is to hold Discussion posts to way too high a standard.

One suggestion I have that is probably unrealistic would be integrating the LW chatroom

Agreed. I hope to do some work on the site in the next year or so (I'm not a good enough developer yet).