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When these retorts come up they always degrade to two worthless arguments:

1. Ad hominem attacks on the original commenter

2. The arrogance and limited viewpoint that ignores the very fact that this can be observed by non-original writers of code, and that this scenario is so common that it coined an original term and spawned an entire industry of clean-uppers.

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There is no ad hominem, and yes, obviously anybody who does not accept your operating restrictions is clearly arrogant.

Ad hominem literally translates as "to the man". It is a direct attack on the person in conversation instead of the subject of conversation, which does not apply on nameless third parties.

> Ad hominem literally translates as "to the man". It is a direct attack on the person in conversation instead of the subject of conversation, which does not apply on nameless third parties.

They clearly feel personally attacked by your statement. Almost as if there is some truth to it.

People don't respond well to "everybody doing X is an idiot without skills". Who knew?

You called people idiots and accused them of having no ability to write software. That is a personal attack.

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