Argumentum ad populum is about beliefs, not behaviors or practices. No one cares what anyone believes about semicolons in the privacy of their own homes, or them applying those beliefs in their personal GitHub repos; we care about behaviors which lead to bugs in their code, or impede their ability to work smoothly in teams and within the ecosystem given its prevailing practices and standards. The argumentum ad populum fallacy also does not take into account historical context or the authority of the individuals involved. In this case, for example, we have the inventor of JS recommending against depending on ASI.