I've had that same experience with moderators on Christian forums. Not on this forum but on others.OzSpen said:Your ad hominem is a suitable example, but could need a little refinement. Your 'begging the question' is a fair explanation. The conclusion is built into the premise. You end where you began. Or, you can't reach any other conclusion as you presume that will happen.
What is an ad hominem fallacy? This is one that is frequently used by those who attack Christians and Christianity. A claim is rejected because of a personal, irrelevant fact about the person. Generally it involves an attack on the character of the person or his/her situation. This attack is presented as evidence against the argument when it has nothing to do with evidence. It is simply a personal attack.
I had an example of this happen when I took a class in biopsychology when I was a student in the USA. I asked the professor in class about a certain example in the text book. His response was: 'You wouldn't have a clue; your views are b...s'. But he did not abbreviate. He later apologised to me outside of the class for what he said, but there was no apology in class for his ad hominem logical fallacy.
This happened 30 years ago. I was not as conversant then as I am now in logical fallacies. I should have challenged him in class about what he did or gone to the dean of the department to lodge a complaint. I didn't, but was overcome by shock in what the professor did to me in front of my peers.
Oz