James Fischer wrote:

> Keith G. Benson said:
>
> > That might help Peter, but what of the rest of us?
>
> At risk of sounding snide, consider your friendly
> neighborhood search engine.

Not snide, but you are missing the main point.  Person A makes a claim, then
says it has been referenced, then evades a direct request for said reference.
This really isn't about search engines.  Would it not seem logical that the
person making an assertion, and suggesting that they have a reference, supply
said reference?  I know I could find the article, or something close were I to
devote time (and the 15 seconds it took you to do your searches is nothing
compared to the time it will take you to wade through them).  But is person A
already has the reference, why not post it and be done with it?

> With a flip of the wrist over to Google, I find more
> than I care to read on a Sunday night:

In many respects your search engine excersice proves the point.  How about
getting back to the group after you go through them all and tell us to which
one Dee was refering to.  ;)

If the reference was freely given, one would have to spend only moments.  So
your excercise in search engine use was the merest tip of the iceburg.  Anyone
can run a search, but without authors or other leads, the search can take up a
lot of resources.  I think the burden of proof of supporting evidence lies
with the proponant of an idea.  Call me crazy, but it makes sense on so many
levels.

> Not all of these will be citations to published papers,
> but some of them will.

Right, but we are talking about accessing the papers Dee was refering to, not
every webpage with three specific words on it.  There is a difference.  A huge
difference.

> Yes, folks that work at universities have access to much better
> citation search services than the rest of us, and often have better
> "science-oriented" journal databases and collections of journals
> than public libraries, but on the other hand,  they must put up with
> working for a university, which is a very high price to pay.

Naaaahhh, I loved it.

> As an alternative, anyone can wander into the library of most university
> or community colleges, and anyone who does quickly notices that students
> and staff tend to run searches on the same expensive subscription
> databases that Peter has at Cornell, print the results out on a printer,
> and then wander off toward the stacks in search of a few books.  I have
> yet to see a single person "log off" their workstation when they are done.
>
> Do I have to draw anyone a picture?

Me, I like pictures.  I would love to see a picture of a wild center comb with
the appropriate "sequencing" . . . .

Keith

--
Keith Benson DVM

Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by
stupidity.- Hanlon's razor