If you happened to show up to some event in progress, you'd generally be ignored almost entirely. Usually the best use of a players time, when they come across random imms and players interacting in a random spot, is to move along and continue what they were doing.

After all, the Imms didn't want randoms showing up and interupting interactions in years passed. Years of smite/transfer to Sands of Sorrow has engrained in many of us the instinct to just move on, too.

If times have changed, there was certainly no warning, but we can take this event as a sign of the changing times and react accordingly in the future.