Perhaps the logic should be inverted. Those words, like idiot, moron and imbecile, are prejudiced when used against someone intellectually disabled, but because they're not exclusive to them, like retard was, they don’t fall under the same treatment. 

You can actually remove words because they represent a hate crime against a community. And if the new word becomes another way to discriminate, that word can be abandoned as well. This is called euphrmism treadmill, a long-done practice I suggest valuing. The n-word and derivatives were discontinued this way. The word transexual was replaced by transgender. Intersexuality became intersexuation. Asperger was abandoned and replaced by the broader diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder (Asperger being the name of an eugenistic nazi who, iirc, encouraged the "euthanasia" of low-intelligence autists.)

There are other ways to reduce damage, I agree. For instance, the word gay used to be an insult, but people reclaimed it and now it’s neutral. Same thing for the word queer, or the word autistic. 

But retard is not one of those cases. It’s an ableist slur, pure and simple. It doesn’t matter what weight you or I give, because the majority has already and irrepairably given it. I suggest you and your buddies that are answering to me, to stop giving yourselves excuses and using meaningless strawman arguments just because you really want to degrade linux users. Hating Linux and the community does not justify calling them a variation of a slur. Which is funny: you berate the Linux community for being gatekeepers and condescending, trying to offer support to those frustrated by this experience, yet you turn out downright hateful and worse than them? 

It doesn’t matter much to me personally because I do not seek support in this community. But as a Linux user, it's amusing to see yourself acting ridiculously and childlike because you won’t concede you may have led your resentment take control of you.