″...demonstrate that your opponent is /trying to counter your argument/ by attacking...”
However, counterargument is not the only way to counter an argument. You can counter an argument by changing the subject, so you don’t have to deal with it. So the question is, if one changes the subject from a substantive matter to personal attacks, are those attacks ad hominem? Because if one changes the subject to an unrelated substantive matter, that’s a non sequitur.
There’s an interesting question here:
″...demonstrate that your opponent is /trying to counter your argument/ by attacking...”
However, counterargument is not the only way to counter an argument. You can counter an argument by changing the subject, so you don’t have to deal with it. So the question is, if one changes the subject from a substantive matter to personal attacks, are those attacks ad hominem? Because if one changes the subject to an unrelated substantive matter, that’s a non sequitur.