(2.1.2) Other Suggestions
There may be many more factors, causes or variations to this dilemma that might inhibit a response or cause others not to respond.
(2.1.2.1) Wikipedia suggests that "... perhaps writing a good reply would require doing research that the reader lacks the time to undertake. Or (2.1.2.2) perhaps an overly insightful reply would commit one to additional work (common on software development lists, where the people who display the most knowledge about a feature often find themselves volunteered to implement it) but the reader doesn't want to get involved.
(2.1.3) In popular use, "Warnock's Dilemma" has come to refer to all the reasons one might not respond to a posting, not just the five originally proposed.
(2.1.3.1) It can probably be safely assumed in most situations that not everyone who does not reply to a posting refrains for the same reason, as a literal reading of Warnock's original formulation would imply."
(2.1.4) Common usage
Since Warnock's original description of the dilemma in August 2000, the expression has become widely used in the Perl world[2] and has seen some adoption by webloggers [3]. It is commonly used to refer to the uncertainty of deciding which of any number of reasons caused an absence of responses. Oft-seen phrases include:
(2.1.4.1) "He got Warnocked." - Someone posted a question, but nobody replied. [4]
(2.1.4.2) "Warnock applies." - Warns readers not to draw conclusions based on the lack of response. [5]
(2.2.1) Linguistic quibble
Although the meaning of the word "dilemma" is commonly accepted in everyday parlance, Wikipedia points out that "[t]raditionally, a dilemma has exactly two choices, both unfavorable, which would mean that Warnock's Dilemma as originally phrased is not a true dilemma. Properly speaking it is a logical disjunction. However, many modern dictionaries consider this restriction needless and allow "dilemma" to be used colloquially to refer to a difficult situation with any number of choices.[footnote] Alternatively, the literal-minded can consider the Dilemma to be about whether people aren't replying to messages because
(2.2.1.1) they aren't interested, or,
(2.2.1.2) for some other reason."