First, the difference between a jab and an insult escapes me. But here's what I have to say to you: If you are being offensive, that's wrong, period. You can't

First, the difference between a jab and an insult escapes me. But here's what I have to say to you: If you are being offensive, that's wrong, period. You can't go around being offensive and then dismiss your critics as being easily offended, that just doesn't wash. It's an ad hominem. If you need an example, try calling me a nigger. I won't be offended, however I will tell you that you're being offensive, even if nobody who hears it takes offense. Elsewhere you have tried to defend your point, and that is the correct line to take. If your point is valid, it is irrelevant whether your critics are easily offended. They are wrong. And if your point is invalid, again your critics don't enter into it. Second, I don't care if an insult or jab is directed at me personally. Ad hominems poison the HN community. They create an environment where ideas take a back seat to things that may well be the staff of life outside the office, but are irrelevant to the business at hand. They create an environment where people who disagree with you expect to be insulted for their trouble. They may fear the insults, or they may simply prefer not to lower themselves into a mud-slinging match. Either way, the community loses their voice if they turn away from comments that contain insults or "jabs." Therefore, I choose not to shrug and say "How rude, but since he wasn't talking to me personally, no biggie." Your third point is not worth a direct response, except to suggest that having reached the rock bottom of rhetoric, your comments have begun to dig. If your points have substance, make them and defend them. Discussing the psychology or motivation of your critics is the age-old misdirection of playing the man and not the ball. See how I respond to your words without making suggestions about what kind of person you are or why you write what you write? You defend your ideas without belittling your detractors elsewhere in this discussion and it is far more credible.