It seems a lot easier to define derailing when it's happening in an in-person conversation, or even in comments to the same journal entry. I don't think I would have such an easy time figuring out whether I was derailing a conversation occurring elsewhere in fandom (or on the web in general.) But I get to witness in-person derailing all the time--much easier to spot, even before I had a name for it.
I guess for me, the litmus test is always whether someone is turning a discussion of a systemic problem, like discrimination, into a discussion of something personal and individual. That negates the analysis that what a person is experiencing is part of something larger and social. I'm not sure whether Poster #4 in your example is doing that--I guess I would have to read the post.
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It seems a lot easier to define derailing when it's happening in an in-person conversation, or even in comments to the same journal entry. I don't think I would have such an easy time figuring out whether I was derailing a conversation occurring elsewhere in fandom (or on the web in general.) But I get to witness in-person derailing all the time--much easier to spot, even before I had a name for it.
I guess for me, the litmus test is always whether someone is turning a discussion of a systemic problem, like discrimination, into a discussion of something personal and individual. That negates the analysis that what a person is experiencing is part of something larger and social. I'm not sure whether Poster #4 in your example is doing that--I guess I would have to read the post.