READ RECEIPTS CREATE MORE DRAMA THAN CLARITY.
A message shows as read while the reply does not arrive. Does that status help people, or invite assumptions?
For the take
Seeing a read status can invite assumptions about why someone has not replied.
Against the take
It can reassure people that the message reached its destination.
The useful wrinkle
The scene
The message says 'Seen.' Nothing follows. In the silence, you supply a whole story: they are annoyed, they are avoiding the question, they have somehow found time for everyone except you. Then the reply arrives much later: 'Sorry, I opened this while carrying the shopping.' The app reported one event; your imagination supplied the motive.
Strongest case for Agree
A reading indicator can make uncertainty feel like evidence. It tells you that a message was opened, while inviting guesses about attention, emotion and intent that it cannot answer. For someone already wondering how a conversation is going, that tiny piece of information may create a more elaborate problem than it solves.
Strongest case for Disagree
Knowing that a message arrived and was noticed can be useful. If you are coordinating a pickup or passing along a change of plan, silence after 'read' may be less worrying than silence with no signal at all. The information itself is limited; it need not become a promise if people agree on its meaning.
Where the answer changes
This vote concerns how people interpret the signal, rather than which setting an app should choose by default. Consider whether the message needs an answer, whether a deadline was stated, and what the relationship normally expects. 'Please confirm by six' communicates something that a reading indicator cannot infer for you.
A question worth taking with you
What did the app actually tell you, and what did you add to the story?
Opinion game, not a ruling.
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