Should an answer on AnswerBag require cited references for it to be considered apt and accurate?
by 
DenverYay
ANSWERS: 3
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No. Absolutely not. And as a side note to you AnswerBag teenie-boppers out there the rating system doesn't mean bunk ;-). A question is posted on AnswerBag requesting what SHOULD be a "user-answer" or an answer given by someone from the general public. If a cited reference or source was required for an answer, then the question poser may as well Google search or go to the library. That way, accurate information is guarenteed directly from the source, rather than via a middle-man or information purveyor. When I post an answer on this site, I make sure my answer is correct. Whether that be through knowledge already gained, which does not require a reference; or through research I did for the question, which would require a source or reference. The only time, within a piece of writing, a source is required, is when pieces of information are used from that source. Otherwise, and answer can be taken as "useful" or "correct" or "incorrect" or whatever based on the information within the answer as a whole. For an answer to be correct, all that is important is that... the answer is correct.
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No. A "cited source" doesn't necessarily mean a thing. Just because someone admits that they found the information in the answer from somewhere else, doesn't make it more likely to be right. I read an answer the other day that siad something along the lines of "God doesn't exist, just read the Da Vinci Code." Not only is the source "cited" a work of fiction, it says nothing of the kind anyway, and to be honest, the answer didn't address the original question. a better way to judge an answers quality is to make a judgement of the amount of inteligence, reasoning and background knowledge that appears to have gone into it, and then to follow up the information with some independent research using the information the answerer has given in order to ascertain whether or not it is of value.
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Yes, otherwise, you can put anything down and not be able to know how correct it is without supporting evidence.
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