Oh, god, yes. (Of course, other times this have been suggested, various l33t d00ds have popped in to mock people who can't manage their save files without handholding. Or something like that. )
Don't necessarily agree with this one.... sure, Skyrim may have over-used it, but there are legitimate plot reasons ("realism" "immersion!" ) where an NPC might force an interaction on you.
...there really are a lot of people who just can't ignore a note in their journal, aren't there? (me, I saw the things added to my Skyrim journal as "overheard this. I'll remember that just in case...." rather than Must Do This Quest. )