Andrew Gray wrote:
On 20/12/06, Thomas Dalton thomas.dalton@gmail.com wrote:
The key point here is that your source for the statement that all the papers say the same thing isn't just the papers, it's the database. If there is a way to reliable cite the database, rather than just the sources it contains (a link to the search results page, perhaps), then it might be ok, but just citing the papers definately isn't.
A while back I wrote about a self-publicising vanity author. One of the details I'd liked to have note was the complete (or near-complete) absence of his books in public library catalogues, but it's almost impossible to actually find a way to cite a "negative search" much less a positive result...
In law this ties in closely to the presumption of innocence. The primary burden of proof falls on the person making the claim, not on the one denying it. Perhaps we should have a stock of boilerplate phrases to express negative search results.
Ec