Thomas Dalton wrote:
I
{{fact}}-tagged a statement which I believed to be true but for
which I couldn't find a citation - in a BLP, as it happens - and found
it reverted with the edit summary "(x) not being related to (y) does
not need a citation!"!!! I despair...
Put it back. I think the standard guideline is that only statements
which nobody would question can be uncited ("the sky is blue" being
the standard, although not very good, example) - and quite a few
people would like citations for those anyway. The fact that you've
added a {{fact}} tag shows that it is questioned, so does need a
citation. {{fact}} tags should only be removed if you are removing the
statement, adding a citation or if there is already a citation given.
Sometimes the citation IS already given, but not in that exact spot.
Where an entire paragraph or group of paragraphs is taken from a
standard source in the subject it should not be necessary to reference
every detail of that passage, and it should be sufficient to state that
a citation applies to the entire range.
Negative statements are trickier because hard evidence that something
did _not_ happen usually cannot exist. The implicit message when we say
that something did not happen is that we have no evidence that it did.
Perhaps that requires a convention about negative statements.
Attributing a claim that something did not happen, or showing why it was
impossible for it to happen would remain a stronger statement.
Ec