The only fallacy here is your description of what I'm doing.What I am calling an appeal to authority is someone claiming something is true because he is an authority. That's a fallacy.
I reported on the use of a word - irrational - among a community of people who have particular reason to pay attention to its use (namely, academic lawyers and philosophers). You can believe me. You can disbelieve me, for any number of reasons (I'm confused, I'm lying, I'm not a very good academic, etc).
But I'm not committing any fallacy. I'm reporting something I believe to be the case on the basis of my personal experience of it. Just like all those people who tell you that there really is such a place as Skopje.