Limiting posting and asking for civility is the only way for individuals to meaningfully engage with even a mere thousand others. Nothing about the human mind was meant for social internet at the scale of the internet, where there are more distinct voices than you have heartbeats in a lifetime.
My expectation is that private is worse for any public involvement in any discussion because nobody else can see it, and also likely to get them yelled at more via other channels, and also lead to the assumption that they "have something to hide".
