Generally, I think transparency is better for a community, so I think it is better to make everything public unless you need something to be private for some reason.
@Pat I wasn't going so far as private, but merely "unlisted", so people aren't seeing the 13th reply toot in a thread popping up in their timeline without context.
I think there is a way to shut those off in your home feed and only show original toots.
Sorry, I don't even use it myself, so I don't know. ![]()