I think its fine as is. if people are becoming a problem, there are a number of ways to deal with it
we get to help people who need immediate feedback or are in some sort of emergency (i.e. bad trip, extractions etc) and we also get to know them much faster and in real-time through the chat. so i think its good that new members can come into the welcome area of the chat and i think we'd loose a lot if we take that away
<Ringworm>hehehe, it's all fun and games till someone loses an "I"