[kranner]

No, it's totally welcome AFAIK.

But the comment made an inaccurate claim regarding the Taliban (which is not relevant in any way related to Covid infections in India) and neglected to provide any sources for their own claim while demanding sources from their parent.

[saagarjha]

Asking people to cite their sources in good faith is very welcome. Asking people to cite their sources in bad faith is not welcome because commenting in bad faith is not welcome. It says so in the guidelines: https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

[kranner]

My comment was about asking for sources, which is not mentioned in the guidelines specifically. "Assume good faith" is about how comments are to be interpreted, presumably when there is ambiguity. I don't see that it applies in this case.

[saagarjha]

> Please cite your sources, exactly and to the point.

This isn't a polite way to ask someone to provide evidence for their claim, it's a demand dressed up as a courteous request with the implication that the comment it was replying to was not "exactly and to the point" and that the author has some sort of onus to improve the quality of their conversation. But in fact it's really just a lazy comment because it costs almost nothing to post and yet puts significantly higher burden on the other side, especially because it is picky. Doing this is a classic example of engaging in bad faith.

(Good ways of asking for a citation might include "I don't agree with that, in fact I don't really think that I can find any examples of this occurring the way you have laid out. Would you mind giving some examples to show this actually happening?" This allows the author to provide sources without being left open to an immediate response that those sources are not "exactly and to the point" and is actually a deferential want rather than an imposition.)

[kranner]

Fair enough, thanks for clarifying.