There's nothing more annoying than having a serious conversation in Freedom Square, then suddenly having your chat box suddenly occupied with a massive wall of text that is the new arrival quests, or the checkpoints. My suggestion is to make some of these hidden from those not having them, such as how the Helmite by the Barbician has the conversation go hidden once you pick which blessing you buy.
This isn't something that's critical, but IMO it would be really helpful for those trying to have a conversation between characters.
I have to agree, it's annoying scrolling up past wall after wall of text just to see if someone even said anything before.
No feasible easy way as far as I know.
There should be a variable to make it a private conversation.