I did not appeal to any authorities. I relied on the readers here being well-educated. I am and was familiar with the history of these ideas, and with the specific arguments that at one time made Ptolemaic astronomy seem more reasonable, such as the apparent diameter of stars caused by atmospheric refraction, and that made phlogiston (which was just "negative oxygen") seem reasonable, which are recounted in detail in Kuhn's Structure of Scientific Revolutions. I'm not familiar with any arguments giving Aristotelian physics advantages over Newtonian physics. It probably wasn't immediately obvious to some people why things floated in water, or why hot air balloons rose; I suppose that could count.

I don't think questions of appealing to authorities are relevant here. There are theories that are wrong. There seems to be a positive correlation between theories of action that require lies to inspire action, and theories that are wrong. My post asks about the strength of that correlation. Not knowing which theories are correct makes it harder to answer the question, but neither ignorance, nor knowledge, of the correctness of theories makes that question itself go away.