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There are a few answers based only on what the user knows and which do not provide any citations, what exactly do we do in these cases?

From Can we enforce quotations of scripture references?, we get to know that we need to downvote the bad answers and not delete them.

From the post Guidelines for new users answering questions:

In the absence of any scriptural reference, written works of scholars, researchers and popular personalities can be used which must be providing a relevant answer.

If no such text references are present, then users can provide answers which they have learned or heard about the culture from parents and others. (If their answers are authentic then other users might be able to provide references to their source scripture.)

But both these posts are outdated, Can we revisit the rule, for now?

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6 Answers 6

3

Why we must insist on sources:

Let me first introduce that we (StackExchange) are different from other sites on internet like forum. It is also introduced at tour page. Also, we (Hinduism.SE) is quite different than other sites on StackExchange network as this is about Dharma not about science & technology.

☞ We know very well that reading scriptures is very important to learn about Hinduism. You also mark that most of wise and learned men give references of important scriptures while talking or preaching related to Dharma. The answers from one is verily depends on his/her knowledge about Hinduism which can be effectively and efficiently gained from scripture only.

According to Purva Mimansa Sutra,

अथातो धर्मजिज्ञासा १
Next therefore ( comes ) the enquiry into Dharma.

चोदनालक्षणोऽर्थो धर्मः २
Dharma is that which is indicated by (known by means of) the Veda as conducive to the highest good.

तस्य निमित्तपरीष्टिः ३
The examination of its means [follows].

सत्सम्प्रयोगे पुरुषस्येन्द्रियाणां बुद्धिजन्म तत्प्रत्यक्षमनिमित्तं विद्य- मानोपलम्भनत्वात् ४
That cognition by a person which appears when there is contact of the sense-organs is 'sense-perception', and it is not a means (of knowing dharma), as it apprehends only things existing at the present time.

औत्पत्तिकस्तु शब्दस्यार्थेन सम्बन्धस्तस्य ज्ञान- मुपदेशोऽव्यतिरेकश्चार्थेऽनुपलब्धे तत्प्रमाणं बादरायणस्यानपेक्षत्वात् ५
The relation of the word with its denotation is inborn. Instruction is the means of knowing it (Dharma), infallible regarding all that is imperceptible ; it is a valid means of knowledge, as it is independent, according to Badarayana.

According to Uttar Mimansa Sutra:

शास्त्रयोनित्वात् ॥ १.१.३॥
3. (Brahman is omniscient) because of (Its) being the source of the scriptures. (Or) (Brahman is not known from any other source), since the scriptures are the valid means of Its knowledge.

Now, reliability of Hinduism.SE directly depends upon the quality of answers. So, we must insist on reliable and authoritative sources and references. That's why we need answers that should be backed up with sources since ultimately we can rely on Hindu Scriptures only.


Citing Sources in answer:

Now, let me talk about couple of cases regarding to citing sources in answers:

  • "Citing scriptural sources is always recommended and encouraged"; specially when the question deals with philosophy and/or scriptures then we must include scriptural source in answer. How scriptural source is helpful is explained by The Destoryer.

  • As pointed out by Keshav, not all answers may require scriptural source. Also some questions can't be answered by scriptural source. In that case we should cite/include some scholarly source like works of Acharyas, Philosopher, Guru, Swami etc. E.g we know that the quotes from the speeches of Swami Vivkananda are very useful and reliable in many cases.

  • Talking about "Personal Experience, Though, Back it up! principle allows personal experience, every community can have it's own policy and rules regarding this. Personal experience can't be considered as a source.

    If one says "I've experience regarding Hinduism", then it would only be reliable if it is becked up with scriptures or sources, otherwise it will look like opinion only. Those who have true experience of Hindu practices, beliefs etc should have the knowledge of scriptures and it will be easy to cite sources for them. So, ultimately authentic and reliable sources are those on which we should rely on.

Hence, deciding/determining some quality standards can help in maintaining quality of answers.


If you don't have reference to cite at present:

Now talking about the following text from Guideline:

If no such text references are present, then users can provide answers which they have learned or heard about the culture from parents and others. (If their answers are authentic then other users might be able to provide references to their source scripture.)

Yes, If you think you can answer the question and don't have any reference to cite at present, you can answer the question but start finding source (knowledgeable users can also help you in citing references) and include it in answer to back up your answer with authoritative source.

But keep in mind (quoting from mentioned guideline):

However, because not all of us might have read the vast number of scriptures that we have in our religion, it can be difficult to provide such reference. In that case, users should only provide answers that they are completely sure about. Mere opinions and personal thoughts should be discouraged to maintain the quality and correctness of the information being made available. Information about a religion or culture is a serious thing and can affect people’s thinking, life and outlook. So users should take care to provide only correct information as much as possible instead of posting personal opinions. Also, to keep his karmic account clean he should cite the original author or scripture instead of plagiarizing.


What to do with answers that don't cite any sources:

Now the point is "What to do with answers which don't cite any sources?"

First of all the general guideline would be :

  • Upvote the useful answer the is backed up with sources.
  • If your question get useful similar answers answering your question then consider to accept the answer that is correctly backed up with sources.

This will rise the authentic answer to the top and visitors can benefit from it.

About deletion of answers that are not backed up with any sources:

  • If answer is not backed up with sources then users as well as moderator may leave comment to cite some sources. Moderator may also put the following notice:

    Some of the information contained in this post requires additional references. Please edit to add citations to reliable sources that support the assertions made here. Unsourced material may be disputed or deleted.

  • Then moderator may wait for few days before taking any action. Meanwhile the answerer can improve the answer by citing or including some sources.

  • If the answer is very useful but lacking sources, then experienced user (or moderator at their discretion) can help to include sources.
  • If the answer fails to cite/include some sources, then moderator may delete it.
  • If the answerer or high-reputed/experienced user see the answer deserve to be improved by citing some sources, they can improve it and flag to undelete, moderators will be happy to undelete answers that are improved and backed up with sources.

Update: Refer to Official policy for deleting answers that don't cite sources.


Following are some useful & related posts:

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  • I suggest removing "Purva / Uttara Mimamsa" and other stuff from your answer - this sounds like an answer that should be on the main site and not on meta :) Answers on meta should be simple enough for laymen to also understand who don't know anything about 'Purva Mimamsa' and 'Uttara Mimamsa'. Mar 14, 2017 at 17:30
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    Also, we have to remember this site is about Hinduism (see this post) & not just for Hindus alone. The following can also write an answer on this site: those belonging to other religions (Buddhists, Jains etc.), atheists etc. Now those who don't agree with Mimamsa Sutras when they read this answer in its current state they'll wonder what you're talking about :P Mar 14, 2017 at 17:33
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Let me start off by noting that moderation and voting serve different purposes. Moderation should be used to ensure that posts meet basic standards of quality, and voting should be used to determine whether an answer is correct or incorrect. When a post fails to meet the basic quality standards of the site, it should be deleted, and out of the answers that do meet those quality standards users can vote on which answers they think are right or wrong.

Now one of the most important rules which I think ought to be enforced by moderation is the rule that answers should be backed up with sources. Why shouldn't this just be enforced by voting? Because suppose an answer says "Ganesha is the supreme god. In battle defeated Vishnu, Indra and other Gods. This is what my mother told me once." Such an answer may be heavily upvoted by Ganesha devotees, even though it cannot be verified by readers, unless they get the phone number of the user's Mom :-)

That's why this rule needs to be enforced through moderation. The ultimate goal for this site is to be a knowledge base for Hinduism. It should be a place where anyone who wants to learn about Hinduism can go find an answer they can be confident in, because it can be easily verified. Now having said that, not all answers require scriptural references. If you want to know what Ramanujacharya's Gotra is or what Shaiva Siddhanta Acharyas are alive today, you won't find that information in the Vedas or Puranas. But in such cases we should still require that some kind of source should be cited, e.g. works by Acharyas, scholarly books or papers, reputable websites, etc. one way or another, the reader should be able to quickly verify that the answer they're reading is correct.

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  • 1
    "Such an answer may be heavily upvoted by Ganesha devotees" - well, thankfully, this site has lot of other sane users who can downvote such answers! This is what voting is about. The same user can easily replace "my mom said so" with a blog reference or Wikipedia which mentions the same story and suddenly we have a top-voted answer with a dubious reference and valid for the site, conforms to the rules. So now moderators will go and verify the sources cited too? At what stage will the policing stop? Feb 25, 2017 at 17:31
  • @Sai in his answer rates a wrong reference worse than a personal opinion, I agree 100% with his assessment. What we need is a sane answer, not answers that conforms to rules and copy-paste out of blogs or scriptures that don't make sense. Feb 25, 2017 at 17:34
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    @sv. We already know authenticity of blogs and Wiki.
    – The Destroyer Mod
    Feb 25, 2017 at 17:35
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    @sv. Yes, copy paste blog answers and wiki answers also doesn't work..
    – Tezz
    Feb 25, 2017 at 17:37
  • @TheDestroyer I know. I'm just commenting on the example Keshav took to prove his point. I just don't think it's a valid argument. I can list a lot of bad answers on the site that cite references but really bad ones. Merely asking for sources doesn't make this site great. We need quality answers. Focus on quality, not on sources! Feb 25, 2017 at 17:38
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    My point is, it may be the case that the majority or a large number of users are Ganesha devotees in this example, or may agree with the answer for some other reason in another example. And so answers which are unsourced can easily be voted to the top. So we need some way to ensure that when a reader sees an answer, he can have confidence that he'll be able to easily verify that the answer is correct. Feb 25, 2017 at 17:38
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    @sv. If he cites a reference and misinterprets them, we can check for reference and know more about them and thereby we can know whether it was correct or not. If there are exact Vedic verses, we can check Sayanacharya commentary and understand it more. For example, This answer grossly misinterprets Vedas. We didn't delete it. It was downvoted heavily. We can only know it is wrong when we know exact references.
    – The Destroyer Mod
    Feb 25, 2017 at 17:40
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    @sv. "I can list a lot of bad answers on the site that cite references but really bad ones." Yes, but that can be addressed though voting. We can use moderation to ensure that all answers can be easily verified by the reader. And then out of the answers that meet the basic quality standards of the site, we can use voting to sift out which answers are better. Feb 25, 2017 at 17:40
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    "we can use voting to sift out which answers are better" - No, that won't work. See this and this answer – for the Gravity answer, when I asked the user, he's not too sure about sources! He cannot stand by his answer! Now what do you do with a wrong answer w/ 20+ upvotes? Therefore, citing sources is a failed approach...need a better method. Feb 25, 2017 at 21:46
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    @sv. Well, citing sources doesn't solve all problems of post quality, and it's not designed to. But what it does do is it allows the reader to easily verify the answer's correctness, rather than just trusting the answered to get things right. Feb 25, 2017 at 22:11
  • I already had the phone number of the user's Mom. 😉 Mar 23, 2018 at 0:48
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This site needs to shift its emphasis from 'citing sources' to 'quality answers.'

You can find a couple of top-voted answers (under questions listed below), which I downvoted because they contain wrong references or don't correctly represent scriptures.

These are my observations based on the above:

  1. Expecting users to cite references is ok, but it's not really effective at improving the quality of the site.

  2. There are not many downvotes even from experienced users on this forum for the above answers. What that tells me is most users don't go and verify the sources. They blindly trust whatever is written especially if the answer contains few blockquotes and supports their preconceived notions.

So for this site to grow and attract new users who write quality content, the focus then should shift to quality answers and not merely enforcing scriptural citations in answers with a one or two line explanation and a 50 line blockquote.

This is what I propose we adopt going forward:

A. Focus on Quality - Not Citations

  1. Do not enforce any hard references.

  2. A good answer although doesn't site any sources shouldn't be deleted at any cost. Just because an answer lacks references, it doesn't automatically become an opinion-based answer. If the user doesn't add references after requesting, mods can add a citation banner. How to decide if an unsourced answer is good? Mods or other high-rep users with subject knowledge can decide.

  3. A bad answer even if it lists 100 sources and makes all wrong conclusions should be taken down either after voting or by mods directly (if voting did not work, e.g., the above 2 answers) after checking with the user how he or she arrived at those conclusions.

@Sai's answer on references, which received 12 upvotes so far, ranks a good personal opinion higher than an answer with wrong references and incorrect conclusions. My above recommendations are based on his answer.

- OR -

B. Enforce Authoritative References

  1. Only allow Vedas, Puranas, Sayings of Saints, Authoritative texts (e.g., Yoga Sutras, Vivekachudamani, etc.), Upanishads, Brahma Sutras, Gita etc.

  2. Ban answers citing Wikipedia, blogs (incl. personal), Quora or Yahoo Answers.

  3. Even good personal opinions need to go when they lack solid references.

  4. Answers using any of the following references need to be deleted as well:

    • Wrong reference [for example, misquoting]

      (These should be avoided as they could be misleading.)

    • Missing reference (for example, a link that doesn't work]

      (These are to be avoided, if the answer contains only the link.)

    • Extremely Broad references (for example, reference: Veda, Good luck!]

      (Specific is always better. Because the information can be verified or understood easily by going to the respective chapter and verse.)

  5. Now there are some bad answers where user makes 10 statements but only adds references to support 5 statements in the answer. And the other 5 statements are personal opinions. Just because it contains a few valid references doesn't make it a valid answer for the site. Unsourced statements need to be edited out from answers either by mods or other high-rep users.

  6. Bad answers like the ones I referenced above will most likely go if users do not fix the wrong references or conclusions.

- OR -

C. Be like StackOverflow

  • Mods do not interfere with answers unless it's a spam or written in a non-English language etc.
  • Mods only concentrate on on-topic, off-topic questions, flags etc.
  • Best answers make their way to the top through voting.
  • We write and maintain Guidelines and FAQs on Writing Good Answers, References etc. on meta but do not enforce anything on the main site.

Personally, I'm OK with any of the above. 'B' is probably the best. 'A' focuses on quality rather than "rules" while 'C' means a free market just like the main SO with minimal interference from mods in answers.

Note that I did not list the current system which prefers some kind of reference over no references at all. I think current system is a failed system as pure garbage can be written in one's own blog post or others' ("to satisfy the rules") and then sold as an answer on this site, which is an abuse of the system and that is worse than a good answer that lacks any sources.

Before we agree on whether sources are required or not, we need to agree on what sources are allowed and what are not allowed. I tried to address both issues in this post.

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  • I agree with "B" but can you explain more about "wrong references"? In A, we are able to say an answer is wrong only because of references. Else, we can't decide correctly. You also said to use subjective knowledge in A, but i don't think that will work. For an Advaitin, an answer may look good but for other schools of philosophies it may not look good. A says "Focus on Quality - Not Citations", but Quality is indeed decided only by citations not otherwise. Also, clarify your stance on words of saints such as Swami Sivananda, Dharma Sandhehalu etc.. (btw, i didn't downvote)
    – The Destroyer Mod
    Feb 26, 2017 at 5:49
  • Also, A says some answers even though they provided correct references, they misinterpreted them. This is also common in Hinduism. For example, Advaita Vedanta gives one interpretation. A non Advaitin, can refer their Acharya's interpretation or his/her school's interpretation with help of references. Also, i think it is bad idea to remove answers that "misinterpret" correct references, as word misinterpret is subjective.
    – The Destroyer Mod
    Feb 26, 2017 at 5:59
  • sv- who should decide the quality of answers?and more importantly how?
    – Rickross
    Feb 26, 2017 at 6:54
  • @Rickross "who should decide the quality of answers" – All users. "more importantly how" – by reading the answer and verifying the sources or claims. E.g., below this answer, I asked for explanation, OP responded: "when I search for answer then I got above that I answered, you're also welcome to edit the answer..." – this is really a bad way to write answers. It's essentially a copy-paste one and user doesn't stand by his answer. I'm not an expert on Vedas or anything but I could make out it's a bad answer...everyone can do the same. Feb 27, 2017 at 1:53
  • @TheDestroyer "wrong references" – See the Gravity answer in above comment. Also, this answer written by a mod. 8 upvoted comments asking for the source for claim in the last line, no update from the mod. Unsourced statements (see B-5 above in my answer) like that need to be edited out to be fair to other users, something to think about now that you're a mod. Feb 27, 2017 at 1:59
  • @TheDestroyer "but Quality is indeed decided only by citations not otherwise" - not true, see Gravity answer, disproves your theory about sources, 20+ upvotes and wrong references. I'm all for sources but only Authoritative Sources, answers using wrong references need to be deleted if users cannot defend their answers in comments. Voting doesn't work in those cases. Feb 27, 2017 at 2:04
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    @sv. Many factors you have to consider here. 1) Gravity answer provides exact references (verse locations in Rigveda). 2) Now whether a translation and interpretation is correct or not depends on reader by checking translations of scholars such as Stephanie W. Jamison, Joel P. Brereton or Griffith (if it is English Translation) or some other scholar. 3) Now, user can ask clarifications or may downvote if he feels they are wrong depending on scholar he follows. We are able to do this judging as we know exact references of Rig Vedic verses. Else, we can't do that. (1/2)
    – The Destroyer Mod
    Feb 27, 2017 at 5:19
  • @sv. Coming to Right and wrong references, Advaitin feels all references of all other philosophies are wrong and vice versa. So, how do you judge right and wrong references? (2/2)
    – The Destroyer Mod
    Feb 27, 2017 at 5:29
  • @TheDestroyer "Now whether a translation and interpretation is correct or not depends on reader" – Reader comes later, OP needs to attest to his citations, provide clarification where he got them from, not random internet searches. Either way that Gravity answer is wrong for multiple reasons and needs to be taken down. He said: "when I search for answer then I got above that I answered, you're also welcome to edit the answer..." – that means he has no clue what he's talking about in his answer, whether good reference or bad reference is a separate discussion. Feb 27, 2017 at 5:34
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    @sv. If we have to take down gravity answer, then what about this answer? BTW, Personally i feel Non Advaitic answers or references as wrong. Should i vote them as wrong references? Above case in Gravity is misinterpretation of Rig Vedic verses, like idol worship answer by a Non Hindu. You can downvote that answer.
    – The Destroyer Mod
    Feb 27, 2017 at 5:40
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    @TheDestroyer Downvoting took care of Do the Vedas prohibit idol worship? so mods need not interfere. Gravity answer is an exception where mods need to interfere because lot of emotional voting going on and user cannot stand by his sources. How do you explain taking down of accepted and upvoted answer like this but not the Gravity answer? Feb 27, 2017 at 5:47
  • @TheDestroyer "Advaitin feels all references of all other philosophies are wrong and vice versa" - ask for references and add citation banner like I said in my answer. Feb 27, 2017 at 5:49
  • @sv. I'm searching sources for moonstar's answer like Chaganti gari Video or Dharmasanshehalu. You can add any source and we will undelete it. "ask for references and add citation banner like I said in my answer." That is very immature to put banner for Non Advaitic answers. We should only put Philosphies as personal and it shouldn't affect duties of moderation (Not only me but for everyone).
    – The Destroyer Mod
    Feb 27, 2017 at 5:52
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    @TheDestroyer You can add if you want, I think it's good by itself (it lists 9 examples already). As voted on this meta post, it needs to be undeleted 'as is'. Mods need to respect votes on meta. Not use personal tastes or interpretations. Feb 27, 2017 at 6:01
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    @iammilind it is true certain portions are interpolated but we can't completely reject them. Sastra Pramana must as we are dealing with Religion. This is not SO to decide if code runs fine.
    – The Destroyer Mod
    Mar 10, 2017 at 5:25
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References or Sources must be provided in answers. Providing sources or references helps us in two ways.

1) We can understand answer clearly by referring sources or references.

For example, if an answer mentions a Vedic verse or a Verse from Manusmriti, we can easily check commentaries of knowledgeable Acharyas (such as Sayanacharya) on those Vedic verses or we can check Medhātithi commentary if it is Manusmriti, which will help us to understand more.

2) It also helps us to verify misinterpretations

For example, If an answer claims God is only formless in Vedas without citing any references, we can't judge authenticity of that answer. Rather if an answer cites references, we can easily verify by seeing interpretations of Acharyas such as Sayanacharya. So, references make an answer objective.

We can upvote or downvote depending on interpretation. We must delete all those answers which don't have genuine sources.

As Keshav said, some questions, such as questions about Swami Vivekananda, can't be answered through Puranas or Vedas. We can probably refer and cite website of Ramakrishna Math (Belur Math), apart from his complete works, as reference.

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    "References or Sources must be provided in answers." - As I stated in my answer, before we agree on whether sources are required or not, we need to agree on what sources are allowed and what are not allowed. Both cannot be separate discussions. Feb 27, 2017 at 5:36
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    Continuing the discussion here as the chats under @sv.'s answer are already too many. My main Qn is on your this sentence: "references make an answer objective.". Let's assume that it's true. What's the objective criteria of something to be a valid reference and something to be not? For example - If it's written in Sanskrit - If it's hosted in some website over internet - If it's some known name (e.g. Veda, Gita)? Suppose, if I host a webpage & write some Sanskrit verses with my knowledge & translate it. Decorate it with some Veda or Purana. Is it a valid source? If not then how is it opposed?
    – iammilind
    Mar 10, 2017 at 6:47
  • I will explain in two points. 1) what i mean by "references make an answer objective.". Objective here means we are able to judge answer correctly. If i write an answer saying Hindu scriptures talk about time travel, users can't decide whether it is true or not. Rather if i quote story of Revati from authentic scripture, users can decide it is time travel or not. After seeing scripture, we can say it is time dilation not time travel. So, we are able to do this Judging because we have exact references. So, it makes us to think in objective way. (continued)...
    – The Destroyer Mod
    Mar 10, 2017 at 7:09
  • 2) If some person makes a website and say it is Gita or Veda and cite that source, users here can say it is not Gita or Veda. Again users are able to identify it is not original Gita or Veda as user quoted those verses or linked that website. Also, most authentic scriptures such as Vedas, Puranas and Ithihasas are well known, though some scriptures are believed as not authentic by some schools. But we must accept all scriptures, irrespective of what a particular school thinks.
    – The Destroyer Mod
    Mar 10, 2017 at 7:12
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    From the "Revati" example, how do we decide if it's authentic by itself? I am not arguing, but trying fix upon a criteria, that if it's written XYZ book then it's authentic -- hands down. Suppose if the Revati story is listed in some ABC book, then we don't accept it. For example, an answer on "porn" was quoted from this website. How do we judge its authenticity? Will it be always valid? It's neither related to Veda nor PurAna, nor Gita. Anyhow, you may post a proper answer here: meta.hinduism.stackexchange.com/q/806/1049
    – iammilind
    Mar 10, 2017 at 7:31
1

Only answers with Scriptural references should be allowed.

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    What to do with answers that do not provide them Feb 25, 2017 at 16:47
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    @BhargavRao My suggestion is to delete them. But we can build this post with better suggestion. I hope.
    – Mr_Green
    Feb 25, 2017 at 16:49
  • Many answers are left unanswered because we cannot find the scriptural reference for them. Yet we know the whole story. Personal opinions should be considered the least. Opinions vary while answering dream related questions. Only answers with an authentic source should be allowed. (Need not to be scriptural from an authentic source or from a scholar). @BhargavRao Feb 26, 2017 at 3:54
0

Agree with Mr Green and others who want answers that are without references to be deleted.

Any new answers which are not citing any scriptural sources should be deleted.Give the user some time and see if he/she is able to provide the necessary sources & in case he/she can't then delete the answer.

And, obviously there will be some questions which can't be answered from scriptures.In those cases we should use our common sense and deal with them accordingly.

Regarding the answers which were posted long time back, let them stay.IMO it will be unfair to delete them just like that.

But for all new answers,however, the aforementioned rule should be followed.

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    "In those cases we should use our common sense" ... do you agree that the answer discussed in this meta post was deleted without using 'common sense'? :P Mar 9, 2017 at 16:07
  • @sv. That answer seems to be of historical interest ;P..with lots of revisions..i will take a luk & let u know my opinions about it..
    – Rickross
    Mar 9, 2017 at 16:59
  • Ok. I generally agree with 'cite sources' rule except the grey areas where mods interpret things according to their personal tastes. And unfortunately, my 'common sense' need not be same as your 'common sense'. I'm afraid none of the answers here talk a lot of those exception cases. Mar 9, 2017 at 17:22
  • @sv Ok and If our common senses don't match and there arises some problem due to this mismatch ..then we can always come over here to sort it out :D
    – Rickross
    Mar 9, 2017 at 17:28
  • Yeah, and everyone knows what happens once you bring it up here on meta :P Example: see the fate of that meta post :) And one ex-mod was not happy me calling out spammers on meta. So much love for spammers but not real users of the site? LOL :D Mar 9, 2017 at 17:55
  • @sv. I have checked the original answer by moonstar finally..I agree that the references added later are not actually related, simply becoz they are talking about one's Guru here ..For a sishya his Guru and Aradhya dEity is indeed one..But those verses can't be used to prove that Hindu Scriptures approve worship of saints..Which was what the OP is basically asking..Now coming to the Q whether the MOD was justified in deleting it..This is tricky..IMO, Hinduism approves (implicitly) worship of Yogis and the like..
    – Rickross
    Mar 10, 2017 at 14:22
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    @sv...But i can't say definitely that the Q demands an A with quotes from Scriptures..If i was the MOD i wudn't have deleted it..
    – Rickross
    Mar 10, 2017 at 14:22

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