It's not an appeal to authority fallacy if the figure in question is sharing insights or opinions on his/her area of expertise. By all means guys, if you think you have a tumor appeal to your doctor's authority.
people appealing to authority often suggest that because someone working in that area(a coach or a GM for example) says or does something it must be right. And that anyone suggesting otherwise is incorrect.
Yeah if I had a question about hockey to ask I'd probably go ask a NHL coach if I could instead of a HF poster, just like I'd go to a doctor to ask about a tumour instead of a random person on the street. Doesn't mean the doctor can't mis-diagnose me. Doesn't mean the NHL coach can't be wrong and the HF poster can't be right.
95% of the time the coach is probably right, and given the knowledge needed to be a doctor that most random people don't have compared to the knowledge they can get watching hockey I would say it's much tougher to be right about the tumour than the hockey as a random person.
There's nothing wrong with saying hey this person in a position of knowledge on the subject thinks this. That's not appeal to authority. Some unknown NHL coach thinks the Leafs are a top 3 talents team in the East. That's cool. It's probably true, I agree, but it's not fact. It's pointing out what 1 smart guy thinks. However saying this guy with knowledge says this and you say otherwise, you have to be wrong because the guy with knowledge is right all the time is. If someone reads this forum and goes and tells his friend, some NHL coach says the Leafs are a top 3 talented team, he has to be right thus you saying they aren't means you're wrong. That's appeal to authority, and it can't work when 2 people in a similar position have differing opinions.
