A note about posting anonymous third party quotes

One of my mods asked me about an official policy concerning posting links to posts or threads on other sites referencing "evidence" concerning a person or business that is the topic of a thread here on the BOI. I figured I should post my reply here for reference...

Actually, this is a good point that I have never addressed before.

If someone is providing a link to a post or thread that is on another site, and the author there has no method of being identified as a real person (via personal name or business name), then would that constitute an anonymous third party quote?

My gut feeling is that if an identified source of all statements made is a requirement for posting on the BOI, then using links to anonymous posts made on another site are not acceptable fare on the BOI. I doubt that most sites have this same requirement, so someone could simply post anonymous bogus claims on another site under an assumed handle, and then simply post a link to it within the BOI.

So, I think I answered your question....