Sometimes deliberate misinterpretation can be used as a linguistic device (Wang, 2008). Perhaps you consider that trolling or derailing, but regardless of whether or not you appreciate the joke, to continue in the thread does not contribute to a productive discussion.

One study found that troll-like responses "deviate from expectations" and "easily capture unsuspecting users’ attention and manage to prolong futile conversations interminably" (Paakki, 2021). Perhaps it is your comments that deviate from community expectations and are prolonging futile conversations? Does it count as trolling if it's not intentional? Appendix 1 shares the author's criteria, so I suppose you can try applying them yourself.

Personally, I'm finding this interaction positively fascinating. I'm a little disappointed I couldn't easily find a more relevant analysis on linguistic humor, but that article by Henna Paakki actually looks really interesting. I highly recommend reading it, I'm only halfway through the introduction and I'm already hooked. For me, it's absolutely been productive. I'm going to print that paper out and make it some night reading. Thanks!