red herring

That’s a different subject, raised on purpose.

Wrong: “Our error rate is up.” “Well, the competition’s site was down all week.”

Right: “Yes—why is our error rate up?”

Both may be true. Only one was the question.

A distraction dressed as a response, usually relevant enough to seem responsive and irrelevant enough to avoid the point. It works because conversations drift and nobody wants to be the person dragging it back.

How to answer it: be the person dragging it back. Ask the original question again, unchanged.

Now go ask the question again.