With regards to the topic......i think its unavoidable....work, school, family, sports and politics are the most effective and popular way to open a conversation...sometimes its just annoying or can be irritating especially if you dont know or comfy with the person but again...without these kind of conversations, you might have missed things that might interest you.....

One example is....good job openings here are mostly spread by word of mouth.....like my church....i was suprised a lot of them work at WHO, UN and various embassies.....and a lot of them offered me to apply there.....simple conversations can be an opportunity just waiting for us to uncover....

I just noticed that forum sites aren't that good a place to open up things like this unless they ask you questions....everyone has their own interpretations and most often, we create our own impression - which might not be true at all....