The term "personal attack" is not used in open politics itself because it invokes an attack and defense metaphor which seems to justify unwise actions, such as physical violence?, in response?. To do so in reference to insult? or conceptual metaphor or rhetoric is to rationalize and to justify such actions.

Some have argued that administrator guidelines are worthless precisely to the degree that they permit responses that assume there is an equivalent between an actual attack, i.e. an assault?, and words exchanged.

Use the correct neutral term?, "personal invective", instead, or label an argument as being ad hominem, e.g. relying on "who says so?" as evidence of error?.