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Comment by Lambent_Cactus | Hacker News Reader

"One group was asked to talk to the stranger who sat down next to them on the train that morning. Other people were told to follow standard commuter norms, keeping to themselves. By the end of the train ride, commuters who talked to a stranger reported having a more positive experience than those who had sat in solitude."

What about the passengers they accosted? The no talking norm on public transit isn't meant to protect the shy from having to initiate conversations, since that's easy not to do. It's to protect people from strangers who want to but in. I'm sure every loudmouth who tried to strike up a conversation seated next to me on an airplane thought it was a fine idea, but I would have been happier to be left alone.

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> What about the passengers they accosted?

Speaking to a stranger != accosting. Welcome to the internet, where you can be bold enough to bash well meaning strangers who spoke to you, yet not bold enough in real life to simply decline a conversation.

The difference is that, on the Internet, you can ignore people and not feel awkward about it. Ignoring some loudmouth next to you is much more difficult. Suggesting you want to be left alone is awkward but afterwards it's even worse because that person is still there. Worse still, suppose they react badly. Urgh. Better to just mind your own business.

Ignoring someone to indicate you don't want to talk is actually a very rude thing to do, in most normal day-to-day interactions.

I don't often get talked to on transit. However, I do often get ranted at. The drunk and the mentally ill ride the subway too--and, unlike in other places, you can't get away from them there.

The etiquette against talking to people on mass transit is a bit like the prohibition most religions have on murder: something you don't need to tell most people, because it's covered by their internal compass--but which is instead intended to suggest an orthogonal reason for holding back to the people for which that compass is broken.

Isn't it the nature of etiquette to be implied to most people, like a moral compass? It would seem that the drunk and the mentally ill would ignore these social guidelines anyway.

Please note that the article does not, in fact, advocate to get drunk and/or brain-damaged and start ranting at strangers.

Similarly, while smiling is found to make a person more likeable, grinning like a maniac, probably less so.

"Speaking to a stranger != accosting." It is if they clearly make it obvious that they don't want to be talked to.

It’s covered in the article:

"The benefits of connecting with others also turn out to be contagious. Dr. Epley and Ms. Schroeder found that when one person took the initiative to speak to another in a waiting room, both people reported having a more positive experience. Far from annoying people by violating their personal bubbles, reaching out to strangers may improve their day, too."

Now add a fifth of whiskey to the experiment and have the conversation start with "Ey, you, c'mear, y'know what?"

(That's how some of us perceive random strangers engaging us in frivolous chit-chat, regardless of their BAC.)

Well maybe if you were offering to share it, it might work. :D

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