3 ms·
>> dismissing everything with [citation needed] isn't a great idea > it's still not a good idea to believe everything you read This is not a binary option. In
by mehrdadn 8y ago
>> dismissing everything with [citation needed] isn't a great idea
> it's still not a good idea to believe everything you read
This is not a binary option. In particular my point is you should click a couple of links and do some holistic assessment of how/why something might be wrong before knee-jerking with "citation needed".
- skybrian 8y agoI see "citation needed" as a terse and (outside Wikipedia) rude way of asking for sources. In the article, some list items have links and others don't. It's reasonable to ask politely for sources.
- mehrdadn 8y agoThe phrasing of "citation needed" was very much not the point here. It wasn't even an actual quote for us to debate its rudeness or politeness. If you read my original response, I merely used it as a terse placeholder representing the reaction in the top comment, which is the topic I was actually addressing. The point was that a lack of sources does not grant the reader an automatic license to dismiss and/or disparage the text without further investigation.