Attack Ideas Not People

Ideas are fair game for criticism on this wiki. However, attacking people should not be. "Idea X is no good" is a different animal than "you are dumb and inexperienced". If you feel the person's background or intelligence is insufficient, either criticize their ideas on merit alone or leave the topic altogether. Resist the urge to engage in personal attacks, even subtle ones.

Personal attacks do no good, especially since people overuse them. If you really want to communicate to somebody that their knowledge is insufficient, you first need to win over their trust and/or respect by demonstrating your insight with detailed observations and careful logic. Otherwise, people will disregard personal attacks merely as flaming by somebody who has either not had their coffee yet or had too much. If you don't want to bother with the leg-work necessary to gain such respect, then move on without personal comment.

(I vaguely remember a similar topic, but cannot find it right now. I apologize if I've duplicated a topic concept.)