Ad hominem

From Encyclopedia Dramatica

If your opponent compares you to this guy, chances are good that you just got ad hominem'd. Ditto if it's one of these cats.

Ad hominem (TL;DR version: "argumentum ad hominem", if you can be bothered) is a logical fallacy that butthurt pseudointellectuals will accuse you of using if you disagree with them on the internet.

And if you disagree with anything in this article then you are worse than HITLER!

HITLER, I SAY!

YOU LOSE!

GOOD DAY, SIR!

When used by IRL intellectuals it means that the argument in question is:

either marked by or consists of an attack on the opponent's character instead of answering the contentions made by the latter, and as such
appeals to feelings or prejudices rather than intellect.

When used on the internet, it translates roughly to "NO U." The same, however, can be said about a huge chunk of all hostile responses on the internet. Godwin's Law, for example, refers to a particularly popular kind of ad hominem attack. To complicate matters, however, that particular kind of ad hominem is almost invariably a red herring as well.

This poster [1] is a perfect example of ad hominem (and of general fail).

Usage Notes

The easiest way to win any argument.

Before making an ad hominem attack, it is a good idea to keep the following things in mind:

In debate, any person disagreeing with the OP is using ad hominem.
If you are salting the earth, implementation of ad hominem attacks is imperative.
It is impossible to make ad hominem attacks against furries because (a) they are sub-human and (b) being furries is in fact always relevant to why their arguments fail.
If you want to call someone else out on using ad hominem, please remember to italicize the phrase, like so: ad hominem. This shows that you are intellegent and recognize that it's Latin. Smarter people might point out that italicizing such a common phrase that is in all the English dictionaries is retarded. If someone brings this up, accuse them of ad hominem as well.