ChatGPT was totally in tune with this concept. The appendage on the elbow of the wing can be a paw or not a paw but it certainly evolved from paws. The reasoning was spot on and amazingly nuanced.
(Add a grain of salt because I searched for about 15 minutes here.)
Doing some digging, paws are "soft foot-like parts of a mammal, generally a quadruped, that has claws" (Wikipedia). Bats do appear to have claws, but not really with the same structure as a paw; they don't seem to be mounted above a soft, fleshy pad. Rather, they're at the top of the wing, sitting on bone. They're also very different in function, when I've had the fortune to see a bat they seemed to use the claw to climb in a similar way to how climbers use ice axes.
My impression is that bat's claws are the anatomical equivalent of a thumb, not a hand/paw, and that the entire paw or hand of bat's ancestors evolved into their wings (sort of like if your fingers became very long and webbed and then you were able to fly with them).
So, my conclusion is that no, the claws of a bat are not a paw.
ETA: I neglected to consider their hind claws, but I don't think those are padded either.
That certainly has claws but I wouldn't describe that as being soft or as being similar to a paw. And they're pretty clearly made for hanging, climbing, and grasping prey/food, and not for walking.
Well, if you're looking for my opinion, I don't think they're trolling. But I do think both of you were (intentionally or unintentionally) goading each other from a disagreement to an argument with your rhetoric (eg, where you said, "let's assume that's a reasonable source", or when they said "you obviously sourced this it just didn't match your point so you discarded it" - that brings up the temperature of the conversation).
Look up the definition of a paw. I think you have a sort of mixed up definition of what it is. Possibly a different definition used among your "bat expert" friends.
And I quote (again):
Paw: the foot of a quadruped (such as a lion or dog) that has claws
broadly : the foot of an animal
Both the broad and technical definition of paw fits what the bat has. Bats have paws.
The thing you are referring to is likely are these soft pads that are often on the paws, sometimes called paw pads.
