Maybe they were afk or paying attention to ICQ, AIM, or
UO Forums instead, or concentrating on a multitude of packs opened up all over the screen in 2D.
I am wondering if something is wrong with speech in Chessie as I have spoken in guild, alliance and to a lot of people during rez duty at the Ethereal Fortress and never saw a response, but did see people say TY. Then i've had people in alliance or guild ask where I was and I never saw them speak.
Anyway, if you spoke to me and I did not respond, it had nothing to do with you, or me being deliberately rude and I apologize