what is thread derailment?

[WolfEisberg]

So rules state no thread derailment. What exactly does this entail? Is it reasonable to think that someone stating the thread is now over, then someone says not till the fat lady sings, and then someone else just posts a video of a fat lady singing and that person gets a 7 day ban for "derailing thread", is that reasonable to believe that is actually thread derailment, let alone a week ban for it? To me that seems rather far stretch and lots of mental gymnastics to think it would be.

So your thoughts, what exactly does thread derailment mean?

[wuddih]

a thread is about kittens and you start talking about dogs.

[Grimminski]

Originally posted by wuddih:

a thread is about ketchup and you start talking about dogs.

[eram]

A thread about pouring ketchup on kittens and you start talking about dogs.

[FreeMediaKids!]

To derail is to go off a railroad. To derail a thread's topic is to be off-topic, so (speaking metaphorically) we ought to make sure that a train stay upon its rails and not ruin its railroads.

[WereCatf]

Thread derailing is an old method that only the most skilled outlaws in the Wild West used to derail incoming trains with nothing more than ordinary thread, no dynamite needed! It never became popular because, well, blowing stuff up with dynamite is more fun.

[WolfEisberg]

What about innocent banter about the thread itself, like my example,, and not a differentiated subject?

[FreeMediaKids!]

Originally posted by eisberg:

What about innocent banter about the thread itself, like my example,, and not a differentiated subject?

That may do because we are not discussing a thread's topic but about the thread itself.

[wuddih]

Originally posted by erλm:

A thread about pouring ketchup on kittens and you start talking about dogs.

NOOOO (ノಠ ∩ಠ)ノ彡( \o°o)\

i guess the the whole thread is now a good representation of derailment, good work internet.

@op, since you are not banned here, you probably mean a game forum ... well. they can ban you for whatever reason.

[WolfEisberg]

I think the problem is the discussion rules are so broad that the moderators can use whatever mental gymnastics they want. They need better defined rules. What a mod might considers as thread derailment is something that is very common and is innocent where the people involved are not even realizing it is considered thread derailment by some mod, and they had no intentions of derailing the thread. Mean while people who use name calling, being rude, and hsrrassing often get away with it. There is no condistancy to get an idea what is acceptable and what isn't, and something so innocent somehow gets rewarded with a ban with no warnings.

[imelman]

People who doing bad things will as always get caught.
So the result: Never name and shame,don't do bad things,don't react to them and always provoide good argument.
And yet,i still see people necroing some threads for bad reason(i.e didn't knew it ended,provoiding question on dead threads,e.t.c.).

[Satoru]

Originally posted by eisberg:

I think the problem is the discussion rules are so broad that the moderators can use whatever mental gymnastics they want. They need better defined rules.

https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=4045-USHJ-3810

Its not hard

[WereCatf]

Originally posted by imelman:

And yet,i still see people necroing some threads for bad reason

Personally, I do not get why people get their panties in a bunch over someone necroing an old thread. A thread being old does not necessarily correlate in any way with the point of the discussion and using an existing thread seems more efficient to me than starting new threads all over again.

[WolfEisberg]

Originally posted by Satoru:

Originally posted by eisberg:

I think the problem is the discussion rules are so broad that the moderators can use whatever mental gymnastics they want. They need better defined rules.

https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=4045-USHJ-3810

Its not hard

Yes, but something like thread derailment is not defined. Again innocent banter is extremely common, where those involved had no intention of derailing a thread and don't even know it can be considered as thread derailment, and often times doesn't even derail a thread. Innocent banter is common within a community, and it is unreasonable to stop this innocent banter especially banning them for it. So the question is, is this a community or just a formal information knowledge base?

[WolfEisberg]

Originally posted by WereCatf:

Originally posted by imelman:

And yet,i still see people necroing some threads for bad reason

Personally, I do not get why people get their panties in a bunch over someone necroing an old thread. A thread being old does not necessarily correlate in any way with the point of the discussion and using an existing thread seems more efficient to me than starting new threads all over again.

Here is a good example that some moderator can see as thread derailment, even though it is obviously innocent and not meant to derail. This is common with in communities which are different than knowledge base.