It’s a mode, and the mode is largely a function of the space, not the function of the person. I usually use the metaphor of being in a digital equivalent of a nightclub, a smoke-filled room: you have to shout to get heard, there are private bouncers, addictive drinks, and so on. Then of course over time, people kind of scream at the top of their lungs and without the capacity to listen at scale. And it may feel kind of troll-like when doing public deliberation in that sort of place. But exactly the same people, if you take them to the digital equivalent of a public park, a campus, a public library — suddenly they behave like in a town hall conversation, in a very pro-social way.

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