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View submission: [Updated] Who runs /r/Holocaust? Each line represents a moderator overlap. [OC]
Nah, ad hominem is just a straight up insult.
A common misconception, and not true. An ad hominem[1] is when you attempt to argue that the other person is wrong, not because their argument itself is wrong, but because they are [insert quality here].
1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ad_hominem
For instance, saying that someone is wrong because they are an asshole, or because they are a tree-hugging hippy, or because they are a redneck. The quality referenced is usually an insult, which is what leads to the misconception, but that is not always the case. You would also be using an ad hominem by claiming that someone is wrong simply because they are, say, an American.
So, to be clear, taking the position that someones arguments are wrong *simply because* their comment history reveals them to be a racist asshole is absolutely an ad hominem.
There's nothing here!