[cchooper]

There is a world of difference between the ad hominem fallacy and an insult. The ad hominem fallacy is bad reasoning. But insults are the spice of life and cathartic for the soul.

Lady Nancy Astor: If I were your wife I would put poison in your coffee!

Winston Churchill: And if I were your husband I would drink it!

[andreyf]

"Yes, I am drunk. But you are ugly. And in the morning, I will be sober."

[ratsbane]

He has all of the virtues I dislike and none of the vices I admire.

Mr. Attlee is a very modest man. Indeed he has a lot to be modest about.

[thirdusername]

Samuel Johnson: Your manuscript is both good and original, but the part that is good is not original and the part that is original is not good.

[GavinB]

HN has civility standards in part to limit the attention advantage that can come from inflammatory rhetoric. Scientific Journals operate the same way, and for the same reason. If you even out the language, the arguments have to speak for themselves.