For an MMO this game is very anti social.
Another example to OP's post is I was heading towards a station and I got a message out of the blue from someone who had obviously scanned me and looked at my equipment, he then asked me if I liked the PA (Plasma Accelerator)
I managed to find out who messaged me but was very close to the station and was unable to reply before coming into disengage range. He was also heading for the station so I figured i would reply when he appeared. HE NEVER DID.
I know for a fact that he dropped to normal space as it was almost the exact same time I did but even though the game saw fit to put us in the same instance of the system it obviously did not think the same again when it came to the station.
That's multiplayer fail for you right there, unable to even talk to someone who is in the same system / station area as me just because it decided to put them into a different "instance"
Long story short (too late) a quick reply button probably would have given me the opportunity to reply before dropping into normal space at the station.
Good idea Commander!