The proper time for a vicious ad hominem attack is when you have no logical recourse. If you have been arguing a point with a person or persons for 142 odd weeks, and an article comes across that logically tears down the final shred of evidence that you thought you had, that is the time to call the author of that article (1) a mindless twit who attacks other people's beliefs for no reason, (2) an egotistical flaming typical wombat aggie melonhumping cheesewhizzing nanosexual subuseless MOTNS clamholder whose submissions are apparently sneezed onto his/her terminal, or (3) something unpleasant.
Or, if that doesnt' work, back track and insist that everything you said was an enormously funny joke and if that person had (a) a sense of humor or (b) any sign of intelligence, he/she would have instantly perceived the delicate and subtle wit of your comments.
Author unknown.
