The pingback bot also quotes a chunk of the linking post in its screened comment (http://rivkat.dreamwidth.org/281544.html), which I think is what's harshing most people's mellow about this. It's currently unclear whether this is true if the entry was ALWAYS private, but it will do so if the entry was EVER public.

Whole mess has LJ's typical UTTER LACK OF TESTING written all over it.