They aren't intended as some magical argument ending tool, they are designed as reminders are common flaws in logic. They are more for personal use than use ag

They aren't intended as some magical argument ending tool, they are designed as reminders are common flaws in logic. They are more for personal use than use against others, because it is easy to fall into bad logic, even more so when emotions (notoriously immune to logic) are involved. Being aware of them will help you be self-aware. RE: "No True Scotsman" -- you missed the point a bit. The point is that it is a shell game. "No hackers news reader would EVER do X" ... I link to a hackers news reader doing EXACTLY X ... "Well, no REAL hackers news reader" -- it is a informal fallacy about goal moving basically. You can't add "no REAL abc" to excuse counterpoints, because it means that ANYTHING I say / prove / point out, you will always claim "no TRUE hacker news reader would do that", making the argument pointless. Re: Appeal to tradition. The point is that tradition has no inherent value, and doesn't relate to correctness. If my mother thought 2+2=17... and she taught that to me, and I taught that to my children, that would be a tradition in our family. The point is that just cause something is traditional doesn't mean it is correct.