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FYI, what I wrote is not an ad hominem argument, and "ad-hominem argument" is not an a.k.a. for "personal attack" (neither of which my comment is, for what it's worth).

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Thanks for the clarification on "ad hominem" versus personal attacks. Now I understand that it's only ad hominem if the basis of the argument relies on the personal attack.

All that aside, your comment above, reproduced here, is clearly a personal attack:

> Not only are you surprisingly easily manipulated, apparently, don't you have better things to hack on?

Is it "clearly" a personal attack even though there is a question mark there?

Yes. Try the following: "You are a moron who has no idea what they are talking about?", or an actual question "Are you a moron who has no idea what they are talking about?"

Both lower the tone. Both cause unnecessary battles and derail discussions.

"You want to X? Really?" typically carries an implicit, "How could you be so [some negative quality]?" This is not an ad hominem argument unless it's actually used in an argument ("Don't believe claim Y; this person even wants to X!" would be), but it is an oblique personal attack.

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