Let’s discuss best practices.
As jsgoddess noted, framing advances communication. In cases of ATMB and Pit drama, I ask myself, “How could the poster have expressed his views better?” If it’s not obvious (and frankly, it usually it is) I have more sympathy.
So let me try.
[INDENT]“Ralph was under the impression the Erdogan was a dictator. He appears to be tragically misinformed, so I wouldn’t waste too much time on his argument, as it is grounded on falsehoods.”
[/INDENT]
Weirdly that seems more polite and more insulting at the same time. It also would be more likely to attract additional attacks. It also misses something: if Ralph is ignorant about whether Turkey is a democracy, he is probably ignorant about a log of other aspects of Turkey. There are cases of non-fallacious ad hominem reasoning: they occur when it is necessary to assess the reliability of the source material, in this case Ralph’s contentions.
Let me try again, adding softeners:
[INDENT]“Ralph was under the impression the Erdogan was a dictator. He appears to be [del]tragically[/del] misinformed[del], so[/del]: I wouldn’t [del]waste[/del] spend too much time on his argument, as it is grounded on falsehoods and some confusion. Hey that’s ok: I suck at physics and I’ve certainly posted my share of howlers. But we should probably move on.” [/INDENT]
I don’t have a problem posting like that, but I’ve noticed that self-effacement doesn’t come naturally to most people. (It turns out I’m the odd one.) So that might be asking for too much: I’m not sure. I’ll try again:
[INDENT]“Ralph was under the impression the Erdogan was a dictator. He appears to be [del]tragically[/del] misinformed[del], so[/del]: I wouldn’t [del]waste[/del] spend too much time on his argument, as it is grounded on falsehoods and some confusion. None of us are perfect, but we should probably move on.” [/INDENT]
That last construction evades questions of patterns in posting styles, which presumably are pit material.
JC makes a valid point I think when he notes the ratio of substance to insult in the post. It wasn’t zero. But it wasn’t a 5 or a 10 either. Adding more solid content would have diluted the offending remark. Admittedly, that’s asking for a lot as well: sometimes you are pressed for time or even insight.