I don't think ad hominem is necessarily dismissing an argument out of hand - it's ignoring the content of an argument in favor of countering the speaker. Ad ho

I don't think ad hominem is necessarily dismissing an argument out of hand - it's ignoring the content of an argument in favor of countering the speaker. Ad hominem isn't always irrelevant, but questioning a source's motivation instead of responding to the arguments they make seems to be ad hominem.