From a design psychology level, I'm wary of any argument against a feature that says "It isn't that hard to X, why don't you just..."

Okay, let's clarify that, then. Currently, to get past an entry on one's reading list that one wishes to skip, one scrolls past it. With the new suggestion implemented, one would click to minimize the entry and then scroll past it. So the suggestion wouldn't streamline an existing action, but would, in fact, complicate an existing action.

What I'm asking is: What is the benefit of complicating the existing action, and is it enough of a benefit to justify the amount of code required to implement it? Your answer seems to be that it would fulfill a psychological need for you (or ease something that's otherwise difficult on a non-physical level). Since both of the issues you mentioned are non-issues for me, I'm going to retain my previous position of neutrality toward the suggestion.

(Additional question: How, if at all, would implementing this suggestion impact current and future styles? Would it be style-independent?)