Is this a joke?

[JackDaniels]

Textbook description of ad hominem:

Well it certainly seems that you enjoy engaging me in conversations. I've got an idea, how about you actually add something constructive to the forums rather than just bitch and whine.

Ad hominem troll

Ad hominem troll at its simplest, will attack people personally, rather than the merits of their statements or methodologies.



The ad hominem troll often has already lost a rational argument about a topic, and thus its goal is to change the argument from being about a topic, to being about the people opposed to the troll (which could mean any/all rational person(s) in the discussion), in the hopes of both discrediting people's ideas indirectly by discrediting the people, and engendering an emotional reaction from the people by attacking their egos / self-image. The "getting a reaction out of" goal is common to most troll types.



The simple ad hominem troll is easily detected and dealt with by calling them on their ad hominem attacks.



However, often ad hominem troll will start its discourse with seemingly reasonable commentary, perhaps an analogy etc. Using rational tone, they may lull you into thinking that they are rational in general and thus their entire message should be considered rational. Once they have established such an impression, then they will then descend into personal attacks which may even sound reasonably worded, until you recognize them for what they are, nothing more than personal attacks.