Everyone has been a victim or a cause of thread derailing. So what is this mysterious thing called "derailing a thread"?
It is the act of throwing a thread in a discussion forum off topic, oftentimes so much so that the original discussion is unable to continue.
A common result of a troll attempting to have fun at the expense of people actually trying to use the forum.
A common result of a flame war between multiple users.
Commonly helped along unintentionally by people who are simply off topic, as well as the occasional Grammar
Nazi.
For those who would like to avoid reading the above text
For those who would like to see it in motion:
Here is an example as might happen in the forum of an unreleased video game:
Topic: Post your ideas for things you want the developers to put into the game!
Original Poster:
Hey guys Ill edit my post to add ur ideas to this post Ill start off with destructible terrain no one's pulled that off as well as X-Com did back in
the day.
Grammar Nazi:
Man Original Poster! What's with all of the huge run on sentence! Use some punctuation while you are at it too. Also, don't say ur, abbreviations
are for text messaging, no one's gonna take you seriously.
Troll:
Haaahaaa, whatever Grammar nazi, ur so shtupid, wher'd u get ur PHD, shtupid land? n` Original Poster, wat u doin playin such an old game like X-Com
for, it's SOOOO dated, I hate da graphics and der are so many bugs n crap
Original Poster:
Hey, X-Com is still rated the #1 game of all time by a lot of people! Who cares if it's got dated graphics, and if you get the right version or a fan
made patch you can run it on a modern system easy.
Moderator:
Troll, stop trying to derail threads, this is your first warning, two more and it's a ban.
And Grammar Nazi, don't correct people's grammar in a thread, if you absolutely MUST do it, send a private message instead so it doesn't clutter up
the forum!
I see you two derailing a thread every time I log onto the forum. And Original Poster, get back on topic or I'm going to lock this
thread.
But what to do when the Mod's don't listen to you or are not around even after you register a complaint due to any reason? Very simple appease the
derailers by using this:
Don't derail this thread is my humble request.
What I mean by the above request is that you should not take a lot of time before posting a response if need be.
Derailment is an act of causing a delay to an event. For example, if people were to set off for a journey, some woman (always) may be taking too long
to get ready. Such women always delay (derail) the commencement of the journey.
In a discussion, the person who derails is the one who takes a lot of time before contributing when/if required. Such discussions may end up taking a
longer time to conclude.
In discussion forums like this, the word "derail" has been misused when it is being applied to the act of drifting to another topic or introducing
non-issue comments.
I rarely (never) consider those who introduce non-intended topics into threads as thread derailers, but I consider them as geniuses capable of
shifting from one topic to the other as illustrated below:
Starting the discussion from weather, to God (religion), to women, to chics, to politics, to sports, then finally, after six hours of talking and
talking, you conclude by saying, "hey I gotta go, I'll keep in touch. I enjoyed every minute of the time we've had.".
Pleases, don't derail this thread.
But you know how people are, they take request as weakness. And that misconception boost their efforts to further derail it. Now one is in a sticky
situation the Mods are not listening to you and the derailers are not being appeased. Take out your ultimate weapon. Oh yeah baby!!
Send them to
The Ultimate Derailing Thread. This thread has been
specifically made for the aim not to simply ignore what the above poster is saying but also to swing the flow of conversation in another direction and
incorporate new subject matter. The derailers will have their wish granted and you can continue with the subject on topic

.
End.
[edit on 7-3-2010 by December_Rain]