This, I think, is at the root of the good and bad of written conversation.

At its best, it allows the author to articulate their thoughts and share it widely for readers to consume and archive efficiently.

At its worst, the author writes an unreadable polemic without any thought of the audience. To the writer, their point is clear, obvious, and unarguable. To the reader, it’s a muddled, angry rant. The readers then type their own polemics in response, disingenuously cherry-picking and taking phrases out of context. And on it goes.

Not all written conversations look like this, but a lot do.