1. Informal fallacies are highly sensitive to context. Even ad hominems can be valid under the right circumstances.
2. In actual arguments, trotting out fancy-sounding fallacy names is rarely the correct play. You'll either be wrong and look foolish [1], or be right and look like a bully. It's lose-lose. Better to think of arguments like debugging: you need to explicitly step through the other side's statements, locate the problem(s), etc.
(These are general observations from a former rhetoric and argumentation teacher. They're directed at no one in particular.)
[1] Straw man, ad hominem, appeal to authority, and appeal to popularity seem to be the most common offenders.
1. Informal fallacies are highly sensitive to context. Even ad hominems can be valid under the right circumstances.
2. In actual arguments, trotting out fancy-sounding fallacy names is rarely the correct play. You'll either be wrong and look foolish [1], or be right and look like a bully. It's lose-lose. Better to think of arguments like debugging: you need to explicitly step through the other side's statements, locate the problem(s), etc.
(These are general observations from a former rhetoric and argumentation teacher. They're directed at no one in particular.)
[1] Straw man, ad hominem, appeal to authority, and appeal to popularity seem to be the most common offenders.