A public conversation is an open conversation.

Evan Prodromou

Lord Hurkle-Durkle :bc:

@evan Mind if I chime in here?

Evan Prodromou

@GuyDudeman do I have a choice?

infinite love ⴳ

@evan if by "public" you mean "visible to anyone", and by "open" you mean "anyone can participate", then strongly disagree. those are two different properties.

Rui Seabra

@evan

To me, if one is talking in public, one is always subject to anyone close by joining in, even if undesired in which case one is entitled to say "excuse me, bub, would you mind your own business?"

In the particular case of social networks, each account writing to public is on a little pulpit of it's own, as such engagement is expectable by default by others following.

Social networks *could* have a setting where an account would define that it only receives messages from its contacts.

Evan Prodromou

@RuiSeabra right. I wonder if, when such a setting is not in place, social cues could give a similar signal, and if so, what those social cues might be.

Jeremy Jupiter Jones

@evan

Evan, I've found myself unable to either strongly agree or disagree, even qualify a position either way, but by posing this question in the form of a public poll you have lured me into entering the conversation which in itself contradicts my neutral position.

Well done, I vote you for the win.

Evan Prodromou

@jeremy_pm congratulations, you've solved my puzzle

Rui Seabra

@evan
Well, I don't think that posting on a social network provides the expectancy of not being an open conversation...

Evan Prodromou

@RuiSeabra but surely you've seen conversations that happen in person, in public, that you know you are not welcome to participate in?

Evan Prodromou

So, I'm a qualified yes. Most public conversations, at least on social networks, are open.

I think an exception for me is when two or more people who obviously know each other are talking, especially about something personal. I may be welcome to witness but intervention is unwelcome.

Raccoon at TechHub :mastodon:

@evan
I think sometimes that's a matter of how you want to engage.

Someone talking about something personal in public may not be open to direct criticism, but might be happy to answer questions, hear about someone else's similar experience, or receive some sort of affirmation.

The immediate, if negative, example I keep thinking of is black people talking about racism on Fedi: yes the conversation is open, but not for people who just want to claim it's not happening. When I go in and say "yeah I'm sure that's happening, can you give more information, like what server it's coming from?" they're usually pretty receptive.