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@scottjenson as often happens in UX, it comes down to ontology.
Is this a place for publishing or communicating? Are DMs in service primarily to facilitating the former or exclusively for the latter?
Someone has to decide. I can't imagine that's easy in a volunteer-driven org.
@scottjenson I can imagine encryption would be a very important feature for lots of folks drawn to the Fediverse.
@scottjenson here's another way to put it: for me, unless DMs are shown separately from the public timeline, the fact they're encrypted wouldn't make a difference. The dedicated DM space is the critical feature, encryption can follow.
@scottjenson it's great that you've shared this question. It's a good example of feature prioritization tradeoffs.
For me, encrypted DMs wouldn't matter in Mastodon. As a rule, I don't share things here privately that I wouldn't want to be made public.
... and that's mainly because (as you point out) DMs appear in the public timeline. It's such a confusing UI choice that I'm VERY careful about what I write in DMs here. 
