Argumentum Ad Nauseam

Argumentum ad nauseam:

Also called

• Proof by Assertion
• Last Man Standing Fallacy
• Ferrous Cranus

Repeating a statement until nobody cares to respond anymore, then claiming you're right since nobody contradicts you. A favourite variation is to insist you've refuted your opponent's argument previously without ever actually doing so, and then go on to state that you can't help that they didn't understand it.

While it sounds simplistic, this fallacy can be maddeningly effective. In forum with content rules, the debater is often trying to frustrate their opponent into flaming them, hoping to win by default.

Examples of Argumentum Ad Nauseam include:

• Almost any conversation with Cleverbot will eventually drift into it calling you a computer and insisting that it's a human. This is because it learns from what people say to it. It will pick up phrases that humans use. Thus, with so many humans saying they are human, it will say its human.
  • Example: Human A: Im a human named bob. Cleverbot: hi bob. Human B: Who are you? Cleverbot: Im a human named bob.
• in The Big Bang Theory Sheldon 'wins' an argument with Stuart this way.
• This is called the "broken record" technique, and will often be used in customer service situations. If a customer is complaining, you just explain that you can't help them because of a rule. If they try to argue that the rule is invalid or does not apply, you simply repeat the rule.
• A variant on this is the Gish Gallop, a debate tactic wherein a debater will make a long series of assertions and make no attempt to back them up. Because it takes longer to refute a point than to simply assert it, his opponent will be unable to refute all of the assertions, and if they spend all their time attempting to refute each point, will have no time to make any arguments for their own case. At the end of the debate, the Gish Galloper will will point out all of his un-refuted claims and, if applicable, state that his opponent didn't defend his position at all.