[knaik94]

It's hard to change a public image once it's established. This makes it's harder to make dramatic shifts in perspective, regardless of new information that's presented. You're not just challenging yourself, but you are also challenging other people to change their idea of you.

Humor and sarcasm are hard to convey in writing. The more you know about your audience, the easier it is to make jokes. But you don't really know how much your public thinking will spread so you can't make as many assumptions about your audience.

Private thinking allows you to create a nuanced framework for yourself that's independent of public sentiment. If you start publicly, you have a lot more friction when trying to add nuance to your perspective. It's also easy to be influenced regarding what issues should be considered significant. In some cases that leads to a minority population/situation being overlooked.

I feel encouraged to share publicly when I want to defend a perspective I feel confident about or when I feel someone can be positively impacted by my writing. Choosing public vs private thinking is not something I actively decided on.

I think it's similar to the concept that the only stupid question is the one that remains unasked/unanswered. I think an unchallenged perspective is generally the weakest. And giving other people the benefit of the doubt, despite how poorly they may come off, is the best way to create healthy online discussions.