These have been a number of issues with people not understanding when it's necessary to include a source in answers recently. It's great that people are using this to back up their answers, but it's gotten to the point where an answer seems to require a source for it to be accepted, even if it isn't necessary at all. So I'm posting this as a bit of a guide as to when a source should be included.
Add a source to an answer if...
- Your answer needs the backing of a reliable source to be believed. If the answer is obscure or largely unknown, it may be questioned if you can't prove that it is right by what is written in the answer. I'll take an example from one of my own answers here: the question asked why a wild Absol fainted from recoil when it didn't use a recoil move. Based on a personal experience, I knew that it was because they hold a Life Orb occasionally, but I included a link to a Serebii page that supported it to make it look more accurate.
- You used a quote in your answer from a site, or used a site to find the info. If you use another person or site's work in your post, remember to give them credit.
A source is not necessary if...
- You are going to write "source: experience". If you don't add a link to a separate page or credit a source, people are automatically going to assume that you know it by experience with the game. One exception to this is if the question's answer is like in the first example, where it may be questioned because it isn't well known; in this case, back up your experience with info from a reliable site.
- The question's answer is fairly common knowledge. Not trying to point fingers, but in this page a user questioned an answer that stated Scald had a 30% chance of burning but had no source. Scald's chance of burning is well known due to how often it's used in competitive games, so it's perfectly acceptable to say this without backing it up.
Reliable things you can use for your answers include Serebii, Smogon, Bulbapedia and other trustworthy sites, and of course official sites like Pokemon.com. Forums can be of use as well, although they are less reliable and can contain misleading info. Unless they can prove what they are saying is correct as well, I'd try to stick with Bulbapedia or Serebii.
