Of course you could use calm, reasoned debate.
But where's the fun in that?? 
It's not often I feel the need to personally attack a poster, but one of the two times I have I said that if anyone said that in RL I'd feel obliged to tell them they're were a fucking prick (or some such words).
I suppose you could censor yourself and substitute swears for benign words.
If bloody became chubby, and cock became chicken, the poster you were insulting might feel a bit of an idiot complaining to MN about being called a chubby chicken?
Would scoring out the insult mean you've still attacked them do you think?
'Now you're just being a fuckwit silly billy ShittyPoster'.
Yeah, yeah, it's immature/not nice to be horrible to other posters, but needs must and all that.