I may have a different Theory of Internet Commenting, because to me not-replying is the default and I need some particular reason to continue a back-and-forth. Do I have something worth contributing to the conversation - something worth adding or clarifying? Is the discussion heading in a worthwhile direction, such that I want to take it further in that direction? Or, is this one of the (relatively rare) cases where I have a social obligation to respond?
There are many exceptions, but in a typical discussion I think that:
I often feel guilty for ignoring other people's comments or questions, and frustrated when other people seem to be ignoring me. If I can't indicate to someone exactly why I'm not answering, or can't receive such an indication myself, I can at least help my future selves and others obtain a better probability distribution over such reasons. To that end, I'm listing all of the reasons I can think of for someone to not respond to a comment/question, to save the effort of regenerating these hypotheses from scratch each time and prevent the possibility of failing to consider the actual reason. Note that these are not meant to be mutually exclusive.
If I missed any reasons (that happen often enough to be worth including in this list), please give them in the comments. See also this related comment.