Thread derailment! Sound the alarms! Danger!

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KitLily
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08 Aug 2022, 8:55 am

I agree that deliberately derailing a thread is not polite or friendly.

However, normal conversations always go off in other directions and tangents. It's called having a conversation. In real life anyway.


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VegetableMan
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08 Aug 2022, 8:59 am

Fnord wrote:
There is no valid reason to derail a thread when it is easier to start a separate thread on a new subject.


That's not up to you to determine what constitutes derailing a thread. If the mods make a decision that the thread was derailed, then I'll have to live with that ruling whether I agree with it or not.


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08 Aug 2022, 9:12 am

I think threads get derailed fairly regularly here on WP. Usually it's not seen as a problem.

Accusing someone of derailing a thread is sometimes used as a tool to silence that person. The definition of derailment is also subjective. When you think your opinion is relevant to the topic, someone else could easily claim that it's irrelevant in order to prevent you from further presenting your opinion.



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08 Aug 2022, 9:17 am

temp1234 wrote:
I think threads get derailed fairly regularly here on WP. Usually it's not seen as a problem.  Accusing someone of derailing a thread is sometimes used as a tool to silence that person.  The definition of derailment is also subjective.  When you think your opinion is relevant to the topic, someone else could easily claim that it's irrelevant in order to prevent you from further presenting your opinion.
Easily solved by starting another thread.



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08 Aug 2022, 9:19 am

On the topic of derailment, Cornflake said in the Alex Jones thread a few pages back:

Cornflake wrote:
An off topic diversion has been removed - please stay on the topic, addressing Alex Jones.

There should be enough material on him alone to fill several topics.


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Fnord
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08 Aug 2022, 9:21 am

Twilightprincess wrote:
On the topic of derailment, Cornflake said in the Alex Jones thread a few pages back:

Cornflake wrote:
An off topic diversion has been removed - please stay on the topic, addressing Alex Jones.

There should be enough material on him alone to fill several topics.
It does not take much effort to guess whose off-topic derailments were removed, especially if you have been following the thread.



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08 Aug 2022, 9:26 am

Fnord wrote:
Twilightprincess wrote:
On the topic of derailment, Cornflake said in the Alex Jones thread a few pages back:

Cornflake wrote:
An off topic diversion has been removed - please stay on the topic, addressing Alex Jones.

There should be enough material on him alone to fill several topics.
It does not take much effort to guess whose off-topic derailments were removed, especially if you have been following the thread.


My point is that people should stick to the point. If the topic of a thread is Alex Jones, one should talk about Alex Jones, not past Presidents, the pharaohs of Ancient Egypt, or the media. While all those topics are interesting, they are also derailments.


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Fnord
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08 Aug 2022, 9:28 am

Twilightprincess wrote:
Fnord wrote:
Twilightprincess wrote:
On the topic of derailment, Cornflake said in the Alex Jones thread a few pages back:
Cornflake wrote:
An off topic diversion has been removed - please stay on the topic, addressing Alex Jones.

There should be enough material on him alone to fill several topics.
It does not take much effort to guess whose off-topic derailments were removed, especially if you have been following the thread.
My point is that people should stick to the point. If the topic of a thread is Alex Jones, one should talk about Alex Jones, not past Presidents, the pharaohs of Ancient Egypt, or the media. While all those topics are interesting, they are also derailments.
Agreed.  Those derailments serve only to draw attention away from the stated thread subject and toward the derailing persons' new subjects and the derailing persons themselves (but maybe that is the whole point).

If the derailing persons' subjects were really all that important, then they deserve whole new threads of their own.



Last edited by Fnord on 08 Aug 2022, 9:31 am, edited 1 time in total.

TwilightPrincess
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08 Aug 2022, 9:30 am

Fnord wrote:
Twilightprincess wrote:
Fnord wrote:
Twilightprincess wrote:
On the topic of derailment, Cornflake said in the Alex Jones thread a few pages back:
Cornflake wrote:
An off topic diversion has been removed - please stay on the topic, addressing Alex Jones.

There should be enough material on him alone to fill several topics.
It does not take much effort to guess whose off-topic derailments were removed, especially if you have been following the thread.
My point is that people should stick to the point. If the topic of a thread is Alex Jones, one should talk about Alex Jones, not past Presidents, the pharaohs of Ancient Egypt, or the media. While all those topics are interesting, they are also derailments.
Agreed.  Those derailments serve only to draw attention away from the stated thread subject and toward the derailing person's new topic and the derailing persons themselves (but maybe that is the whole point).


And then, once again, it’s almost impossible to talk about a complex topic in-depth.


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08 Aug 2022, 9:34 am

And again, if the derailing persons' subjects were really all that important, then those subjects deserved whole new threads of their own.



VegetableMan
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08 Aug 2022, 11:39 am

The irony is Fnord is one the worst thread derailers on this website.


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08 Aug 2022, 11:53 am

This is the sort of thing you should be reporting privately, with examples, not making a public accusation like this.


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08 Aug 2022, 11:58 am

Cornflake wrote:
This is the sort of thing you should be reporting privately, with examples, not making a public accusation like this.
Seconded.  If anyone is in violation of the rules, report them!

The moderators have been very diligent in letting me know when I am effing up.

Not that I always agree with them, but that they will let me know.



VegetableMan
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08 Aug 2022, 11:59 am

Cornflake wrote:
This is the sort of thing you should be reporting privately, with examples, not making a public accusation like this.


Good advice. I will do that in the future.


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08 Aug 2022, 12:18 pm

^ Thanks.


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08 Aug 2022, 12:53 pm

What is the difference between derailing threads and going off topic? Sometimes bringing up a different issue is relevant to a topic.


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