[defrost]

Is that a credible bar for "actual fact" any more though?

[solumunus]

I think it’s a fact that people do it and it’s a real phenomena. Whether it has any scientific basis or not is a different matter.

[defrost]

Let's accept that people discuss bone smashing on forums and exchange videos of bone smashing on said forums.

Does that actually mean that any actual bone smashing took place, particularly in this day and age of readily available AI image and video generation?

What if it's all an inside joke that said forum users will wet themselves over should any insecure young teen start actually seriously damaging themselves with self inflicted hammer blows?

Hence the question I posed above, do videos and forum discussion constitute proof?

[amiga386]

I would probably accept a report from a reputable news agency confirming that someone was admitted to hospital after having some accident that the subject themselves referred to as "bonesmashing"... even if others might try to no-true-scotsman it.

In Wikipedialand, this is the requirement for independent sources; it's not enough for X to say X did Y, even if X or X's friends film X doing Y and affirm they didn't doctor the footage. It needs an independent source (not X, X's friends and family, X's fellow forum posters, but instead a neutral third party) to confirm X did Y.