What explains the ad hominem rampant in online discourse?
pbhjpbhj: If someone resorts to an ad-hominem attack it seems that they don't have a logical comeback, or at least not one that can promote the verity of their argument over the others being proferred.Ad hominem attacks very rarely take the form of genuine criticism of the person or indeed a criticism of the characteristics of that person pertinent to the argument at hand.Most of it is just "bad mouthing".Personally I don't have a problem with people questioning my character if it's pertinent to the issue.I presume it's one of those role-playing things. People act out against what they are restricted in doing in real life - you can't just rant and rave at people without repurcussions  when you're off-line. Online behind a veil of pseudo-anonymity you can try out your best swearing and put downs and make a game of attack those who seek logical conclusions by being simply inflammatory.One very weak example (though I've had people on HN tell me they feel all my kind should be murdered!):I was having a mathematical block picturing a particular plane and asked in response to a story if someone could post a link to an online 3d function plotter; the response was along the line of "you moron that's the simplest possible plane to imagine" followed by 2 other helpful responses.For one I don't see asking for help to be moronic, not all people have the same skillset, some of us have specific learning issues. For another the assertion that it was the simplest plane was plain wrong (no pun intended!).So why did the guy attack me with vemon and false assertion - in this instance I feel he wanted to exert his intellectual superiority by attempting to belittle me. Others would then jump on this and vote him up and he gets a happy "I'm the dogs-bollocks" [that amazingly is a good thing! it means "supreme in this field"] feeling all day.My tuppence.