Hector Martin

Is that not the case for some people? I mean, it's a public medium after all.

Heck, even @-replies. RTing those might be rude/confusing, but ought not to be dangerous.

the amount of Attention that retweeting can bring scales alarmingly. However I happen to feed on dark energy

That's true, but ultimately by posting on a public platform you should be prepared for arbitrary amounts of attention, no?

It can certainly be surprising or unexpected of course, perhaps unwelcome, but ultimately something to be accepted IMO.

eh, things change a bit at scale: getting derisively RTed by certain folks can bring days of harassment or worse

for folks who normally have a couple hundred followed and aren't saying anything super controversial, it's unexpected

RT with negative commentary/context is different. I just don't see a policy of "ask before you RT" as reasonable.