I think the gap here, in standard discussion, is that something involving a rhetorical fallacy doesn’t make it _wrong_. At any number of points in my career, I

I think the gap here, in standard discussion, is that something involving a rhetorical fallacy doesn’t make it _wrong_. At any number of points in my career, I’ve argued in favor of using a technology because the majority of the industry is using it. On one hand, that’s a bandwagon fallacy. But it’s also often the right answer: there are actual benefits in technology of using something with an active userbase, where new hires are likely to have familiarity, etc. Likewise, appeals to authority are not fatal to a suggestion. If we’re debating two courses of action and I say “well $smart_engineer generally recommends option A”, that’s meaningful. But it’s still an appeal to authority. In a good discussion, the follow-up question would be “why do they generally recommend that?”, which is how you determine if the authority’s wisdom applies to your situation.