The only "technique"..
.. is to figure out exactly how far you can get to the "personal attack" guideline without crossing over. To wit,
* Implying that someone is too unskilled to beat the game is acceptable ("Do yourself a favor and save the money for you and you're son, NOT for playing", along with countless other "You're only dealing because you'll never have the skill" posts)
* Insulting someone by labelling them as a "turncoat" or "the enemy", or calling it "sickening", is apparently okay.
* Insulting someone by inference is acceptable ("Spoken like someone very lazy", "A statement I would expect from someone completely bankrupt of moral character", and so forth)
.. and all of this completely unprovoked, as I simply posted a message to reply to a friend.
Now I have no problem with this, and if I have to dance around these rules to defend myself, so be it. But the last thing I'm going to do is prove my "civility" by letting myself be slandered and insulted without speaking up for myself.
M.