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This answer has been deleted by one of our Diamond Moderators: Why is Janeway an Admiral and Picard is not?

High rep users can see the last comment there.

Is it mandatory on this site to provide citation? Last I checked, I have seen lots of high quality answers without any citation. Also, there are lots of wrong answers which provide proper citation.

Talking about for the sake of answerer, that user has 1 reputation. I don't think downvotes would hurt him.

Should Diamond Moderators use their diamond powers after judging the answer's correctness?

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  • Related not dupe; meta.scifi.stackexchange.com/questions/665/…
    – Valorum
    Mar 23, 2015 at 7:56
  • Related not dupe; meta.scifi.stackexchange.com/questions/2706/…
    – Valorum
    Mar 23, 2015 at 7:57
  • Although he's on 1 point, I certainly don't think it's encouraging to a new user to see the community piling onto their answer with downvotes.
    – Valorum
    Mar 23, 2015 at 7:59
  • 3
    I'm downvoting this question because I think it's disingenuous. As said in both posts you link, the reason given for deletion is neither citation nor correctness. You acknowledge that you've seen the reason given for the deletion but rather than challenging that reason you dismiss it as misdirection, instead asking a question about citation and correctness. If you think the mod is lying about why they deleted something, that's serious and you should make a meta post about it directly so we can address it head-on.
    – BESW
    Mar 23, 2015 at 8:11
  • @BESW The later link in question wasn't added by me. Rolling back.
    – Satellite of Sin
    Mar 23, 2015 at 8:13
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    @SS The point stands: you quoted the relevant info, whether you linked both versions of it or not.
    – BESW
    Mar 23, 2015 at 8:14
  • @BESW I didn't see where mods have given the reason other than this is attracting down votes like magnet..
    – Satellite of Sin
    Mar 23, 2015 at 8:18
  • 2
    @SS Exactly; he said he was deleting it because of downvotes. I disagree with that choice, but you're not asking about it. You've dismissed the reason given; instead of challenging it, you're assuming he's deleting it for some other, unstated reason: you're asking about deletion because of citation or correctness, which is not why the answer was deleted--unless you think he's lying about why he deleted it, which is a major accusation that should get a meta post of its own.
    – BESW
    Mar 23, 2015 at 8:21
  • @BESW Haha.. I thought it was understood thing because deletion because of downvotes was plain silly.
    – Satellite of Sin
    Mar 23, 2015 at 8:24
  • I actually agree with @BESW on this one. Remove the reference to this question (leaving this as a general meta) and re-ask it as a separate question ("why was this answer deleted"). I'll explain my thought process.
    – Valorum
    Mar 23, 2015 at 8:26
  • 3
    It is silly. Silly enough that it's worthy of an actual meta post about that rather than some passive-aggressive misdirection malarky to call attention to it without actually saying what you think the real problem is. If you think a moderator is lying about his motives, that's Serious Business. If you think a moderator is lying so blatantly that it's not worth even mentioning anymore because it's obvious to everyone, but the Stack isn't taking him to task for it, that's Even Worse.
    – BESW
    Mar 23, 2015 at 8:26
  • 1
    Related : meta.scifi.stackexchange.com/questions/6739/…
    – Valorum
    Mar 23, 2015 at 8:58

1 Answer 1

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The relevant quote from the FAQ is that

Links to external resources are encouraged, but please add context around the link so your fellow users will have some idea what it is and why it’s there.

So no, it's not mandatory to add citations.

That said, answers that make bold claims without citations are liable to suffer from downvoting and that's something we want to avoid.

In the case of the answer you've referenced, it also had the misfortune to be a work of fan-fiction which meant that it had a double-whammy of downvotes.

UPDATE : I've discussed the specific reasons for the closure here

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  • 1
    I do think it's at best borderline acceptable to delete an answer because it's haemorrhaging votes (we actually have a badge for unpopular answers that get accepted anyway) but unless you're lying, your deletion was for reasons that have nothing to do with the reasons this meta question posits. Maybe it'd be good for posterity and completeness's sake to add something about policy re: deleting on account of just being a poor answer?
    – BESW
    Mar 23, 2015 at 8:15
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    @BESW - I've gone one better; meta.scifi.stackexchange.com/questions/6739/…
    – Valorum
    Mar 23, 2015 at 8:59
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    That faq quote is in regards to blind links. Has nothing to do with citations.
    – user16696
    Mar 23, 2015 at 22:21
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    @cde - I read it as general guidance. Citation isn't necessary (per se) but it could fall foul of the rules on plagiarism and it certainly isn't good form to post without citing. By the same token, I would consider it appropriate to be able to back up statements with some form of evidence. Neither of these are specific rules though...
    – Valorum
    Mar 23, 2015 at 22:55

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