When a post receives no replies, it's impossible to tell if it was ignored, uninteresting, or perfect.
Warnock's 1998 observation about mailing lists. Its general form is that silence is uninformative, which is why absence of complaint is such poor evidence about a product or a policy.
In practice
- A consultation closes with two responses, and the department cannot tell whether the proposal was uncontroversial or unread.
- A manager reports that the new process has generated no complaints, in a team that has learned complaints are noted.
- Further reading
- Wikipedia
- Subject
- Communication & Media
- Essay
- The folk laws of argument and attention