The globally unfavourable assessment of state-generated forms of participation often extends to the citizens’ talk in itself. Today, it is the very idea that ordinary citizens are able to express themselves in a relevant and fruitful way during technical and tightly framed public discussions that seems to be called into question. How do citizens respond to the difficulty to express their ideas or concerns about their neighbourhood, in a forum where they have been invited to do so? What are their reactions to repeated failure to impact the discussions and the projects? ‘Exit’, ‘voice’ and ‘loyalty’ are three typical reactions to dissatisfaction. This paper will describe a fourth option, ‘internal resistance’. Following this option, citizens, while conserving appearances of loyalty, resituate themselves in the interaction through tactical moves that are found to each illustrate one of the main principles of Goffman's conception of the ‘interaction order’: focusing, mutuality, equality.