This right here is one of the more annoying message board tics.

I'm pretty sure that's not what people mean when they talk about appeal to authority. An actual appeal to authority is fine. A fallacious appeal to authority is one where the 'authority' in question has little or questionable authority in the area being discussed.

Here is a possibly legitimate appeal to authority, although you could refute it on its own grounds :-) http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argument_from_authority

An actual appeal to authority isn't "fine", it's saying

"Accept my logic as correct because I namedrop a well regarded name as a supporter". But since well regarded people can be wrong this is no sort of proof at all.

I think you need to read the Wikipedia entry on Argument from Authority.