Posting Without Evidence

[Ibn Al-Shahid]

(bismillah)

(salam)

This has been a regular occurrence on ShiaChat these days. I am seeing certain members posting on a legitimate question that requires deep analysis from fiqh, Quran, Ahadeeth, with answers (mostly with no evidence) that might affect the easy gullible. Maybe this is happening because of pure ignorance of how dangerous it is to answer a legitimate question with answer clearly from their head instead of reference to certain books/videos/ahadeeth.

I am posting this simply for someone who has authority here to put a public announcement of some sort. This is extremely dangerous, what if the person takes the word of someone who has no proof? I am not singling out anyone.

[Hameedeh]

This has been a problem. People come to ShiaChat to find an answer right away. If two people write their own opinion without any sources, the person thinks their question was answered and they leave the site, not knowing the answer was incorrect. In the Islamic Laws & Jurisprudence Forum, where most of the fiqh questions are found, there is an Important Note at the top of the page: Please Don't accept unsourced replies and always double check sources. When in doubt, please consult your scholar. The Hadith Sciences subforum has a pinned topic called About This Forum which says: any claims made must be backed up by reliable sources. 

[Saintly_Jinn23]

With regards to law and jurisprudence, this has always been an issue on the site. But sometimes veteran users like myself will often just assume that those with whom we are discussing the nuances of a particular issue are at least partially informed already of their own maraji's positions.

Edited December 17, 2014 by Saintly_Jinn23

[Ali-F]

Admins should warn or delete comments without sources.

[alirex]

If this is discussion board and people are coming to ask Law to follow then its not mistake of entertainer but OP.

Either he is not aware of the knife in his hand or he knows how to use knife and where to use.

Technology and Social media is same like Knife , some don't know they have knife and they just use it without knowing it can make severe damage, and some knows how to make severe damage.

 

This section : Islamic Laws & Jurisprudence ( also need to be moderated one )

[Bright]

This was discussed at length in this thread last month:

http://www.shiachat.com/forum/topic/235026784-enforcing-hidden-posts-by-mods-nader-zaveri/#entry2755847

 

It is a problem when some people simply reply with "Yes, this is okay" without any analysis or even mentioning that it's their own opinion.  I think mods should delete those specific types of posts.

 

 

However, some posts can add useful info & analysis even without citing Quranic verses, hadiths, etc. -- but it's important that people state the source (e.g. their own view, memory from asking in the past, etc.).

 

Info based on simple logic & basic Islamic principles can sometimes answer a question and/or can help a person consider pragmatic aspects (even if something is halal, it may not be a wise decision if it creates problems in life) + can help them decide what specific questions to ask a marja.

 

Anyway, it's discussed in detail at the link.

Edited December 17, 2014 by Bright

[notme]

It is the responsibility of the reader to accept information that comes from reliable sources and to reject that which is unreliable.  

It is dangerous to assume that the questioner is too stupid or too unwise to know a good answer from a quick one.  Strict censorship kills discussion.  This is a discussion forum.  If a user wants laws with references, he should refer to a reputable scholar, hadith, or Quran, not the internet.

[Abu'l Khattab]

Why is Nader Zaveri liking the OP's post when he posts his opinion without sources all the time? 

[Ali-F]

On 12/17/2014 at 4:15 PM, Al-Afasy said:

Why is Nader Zaveri liking the OP's post when he posts his opinion without sources all the time? 

Maybe you should direct this to Nader.

[Khalilallah]

What would Shia chat be like if no user responded? You guys do realize this is Shiachat not Shia board of Istifta.

The majority of posts on Shia chat are not supported with evidence, the vast majority of Shiachat does not know what hadith is Sahih or not.

This site is full of below average to average teenagers in terms of religious knowledge.

The burden should fall on the poster to not rely on an answer from a Forum site, a Forum site. 

So just think about how active and successful Shiachat would be if only 2% of its users posted and 98% stayed quite because they are not learned enough.

This site is more about ignorant teenagers arguing with their little knowledge in the hope that they learn something new. I personally have learned a lot from having my views challenged and an alternative view proved.

If someone wants an accurate and reliable ruling, there is a whole organization just for this and they should contact their Marja not ask a site full of teenagers about complicated issues which even the Marjas have not solved.

So please do not rely on us ignorant people to back up what we say with evidence because we do not have evidence or we do not remember its address, instead tell the posters to not rely on advice from Shiachat unless they are backed by evidence. 

Also definition of Forum is: a meeting or medium where ideas and views on a particular issue can be exchanged.

So either stop all non empirical posts and turn this place into something not a forum or let it be for what a forum is meant for, getting ideas and views across.