One issue is the prevailing idea that all/most online interactions should be shared publicly. It would still have been ill-advised to make these jokes even in p

One issue is the prevailing idea that all/most online interactions should be shared publicly. It would still have been ill-advised to make these jokes even in private, but I’d go so far as to say there’s a big concrete difference betweeen expressing yourself privately versus publicly. Your friends have a lot of context with which to judge you and your words, but the public doesn’t. You might say something sarcastically or in jest, but someone else might conclude that you believe it earnestly[1]. And if you ARE earnestly expressing yourself and feel like your ideas deserve public platform, then you need to have thought ahead about what kinds of responses you might get. [1] See also Poe’s Law.