Policy re false statements in posts

[Anonymous]

This is most immediately about the Politics forum, but could apply to any. What is your moderating policy when someone makes an unsourced assertion that cannot be confirmed through independent search and the poster does not return to provide a citation when asked? It gets old when people derail threads with ridiculous claims that would be on topic if true, but appear to be completely false?

[jsteele]

Report the post. If I know it is false, I'll remove it. If I don't know, you will have to convince me that it's false.

[Anonymous]

Well, that would be the issue with these posts. If something simply isn’t reported anywhere at all, that strongly suggests it’s not true, but that’s not actual proof it’s false either. What’s stopping posters from completing making things up when there’s zero accountability to substantiate their claims?

[Anonymous]

The post at 15:56 on this thread is exactly what I’m talking about:

https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/75/803683.page

I googled for substantiation and couldn’t find anything, so I asked the poster for a source, as did one other poster. Another poster apparently also searched and couldn’t find anything. In the meantime, the person who posted the claim has not responded to provide any substantiation and that story is now the focus of the thread. Is that just the way the Politics forum is going to be?

[jsteele]

I am familiar with that poster. He trolls a lot. Among other things, he claims to be a journalist. So, he would be able to post a source if one existed. I've removed the post and the follow-ups.