:-) Good Point !!! I was talking about the philosophy of engineering design.
Right, all beams and trusses need light lateral support on the compression flange or you can get failure as you described. The lateral support must be at a specified spacing per code. If my memory is correct, what you described is called buckling failure or to expand on the words... buckling failure of the compression flange. You sound like you are engineering aware or just observant. Most people are neither :-( .