Guy Chapman aka JzG wrote:
"Daniel P. B. Smith" wrote:
Or even "the book was not found in an online search of the Cornell University Library Catalog." If the citation gives the details of the search, that gives the opportunity for someone else to check and point out that the search succeeds if you spell the title differently. Not at all impossible.
Another issue: a particular promoter of a particular POV cites a book in support of his argument. It is not a widely-circulated book. Others are unable to find the book, or, having found the book, unable to find the specific text supposedly quoted. At some point we have to apply the "yeah, right" rule and remove it.
If he's promoting the POV he's at least hanging around long enough to be asked questions. We can at least ask him to be more specific in his citations: the ISBN or publisher in the first case, the page number in the second case. If nothing happens the whole issue can be moved to the talk page until we receive verification. Being unable to track down a stated source is a somewhat different from a negative assertion that something doesn't exist.
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