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Another user has been replying to an answer of mine (and downvoted it) based on false information. What he is arguing against is something that isn't up for debate, and has been scientifically proven countless time by elite medical research institutes. Here is the question:

https://martialarts.stackexchange.com/a/7851/8174

Should users be allowed to spread false information like this? In this case the conclusions he's drawing could lead other users not to follow the scientifically accepted advice, which could lead to injury. I believe it would be irresponsible to allow this "debate" to continue. This isn't a skepticism SE.

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The nature of the site is you get a lot of answers, sometimes wrong ones. Our voting system does a good job of reducing bad answers and of course, anyone looking for information can sort through the good vs. bad on their own and do some research as well. Things would be different if we were, you know, like a medical association or sports medicine institute or similar.

That said, our site does take time to get through that process. You ran here right away, mostly looking to "win" your argument rather than give the voting process time to work through. If you feel someone is harassing you in comments, flag it and move on. If you want to be vindicated, give links and better information and move on. This isn't a forum where people win arguments by winning over mods or a popularity contest - you provide information for the poster, in context to what they're asking, and hopefully to others as well in the future.

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  • It's not my argument to win. My answer can be deleted for all I care, as long as misinformation isn't being spread. In the context of martial arts and injury prevention, misinformation is extremely dangerous. That being said, I guess I'll just let false comments go in the future, as pointing out false information gets the comments moved to chat.
    – coinbird
    Sep 22, 2017 at 16:32
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    You didn't go, "Hey, here's some sources that say otherwise" and leave it. You kept going back and forth. Sort of like how this "then I won't do ANYTHING" thing you're saying right now is a defensive behavior as well. It's not a great behavior pattern for discussion.
    – Bankuei
    Sep 22, 2017 at 16:46
  • I provided institutions that have researched the topic (Harvard Medicine, The American College of Sports Medicine) for them to start their research.
    – coinbird
    Sep 22, 2017 at 16:57
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Simply stating that a particular fact has been scientifically proven and then not supplying any sort of corroborating link is equally bad.

One of the aims of this network is to supply proven and provable information. You could resolve the dispute by linking to online references, or specify the name of the journal/book if it appeared in printed form.

The extended discussion that is currently going on in that thread should be taken to the chat room. There is a possibility that you could both be correct.

Other than that it is up to the community at large to maintain and/or the factual accuracy of the site, it is not an issue that ♦ moderators should be involved in directly (not that you've asked or flagged for that, but I thought I'd mention it).

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  • I noted that Harvard Medicine and The American College of Sports Medicine have done studies on it. This is like being required to link scientific data on why the Earth isn't flat. I'll give the person a starting point, but they need to want to research the topic themselves. No one article or study is going to convince someone that hard headed.
    – coinbird
    Sep 22, 2017 at 14:03
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You make some strong claims. Yet you refuses to back those claims up with citations. Then disparage those who tell you that you need to add citations and open a meta to help you win the argument… Note that whether those claims are correct or not is irrelevant for this discussion.

If the information backing up your claims is so easy to find, then your time would have been much better spend doing a search yourself and added a few links (maybe even to the search themselves instead of specifics) rather than being condescending towards those that ask for such.

It saddens me that after around a fortnight later, you still have chosen not to add a few links which by your own claim would be trivial to find. ☹

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