My question is simple… what are ‘Ad hominem attacks’ ?
Out of the many charges brought against me by the Cheshire constabulary over the years, I don’t think I’ve ever been accused of one of these… 
Roger, an “ad hominem” attack is one where you attack the member in question (usually something personal) instead of their argument.
From Wikipedia:
Ad hominem (Latin for “to the person”[1]), short for argumentum ad hominem , is a fallacious argumentative strategy whereby genuine discussion of the topic at hand is avoided by instead attacking the character, motive, or other attribute of the person making the argument, or persons associated with the argument, rather than attacking the substance of the argument itself.
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FFS, Roger, get your hair cut! Would that count as an example?
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…or in sporting parlance, ‘playing the man and not the ball’.
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Or perhaps (a wholly fictitious and somewhat facetious example): @PaulDavies, you’re a cloth-eared idiot, who’s obviously taking bribes!