I expect to perceive a bare “what are some examples?” as mildly insulting even if the author is like “yes absolutely, here you go”. And I expect to percieve a bare “examples?” as slightly more insulting.
I don’t think it’s mildly insulting, I think it’s ambiguously insulting, in that a person wanting to insult you might do it. But in general I think it’s a totally reasonable question in truth-seeking and I’d be sad if people required disclaimers to clarify that it isn’t meant insultingly, just to ask for examples of what the person is talking about.
Seconding Ben Pace’s answer. This sort of thing is one case of a larger category of questions one might ask. Others include:
“Is the raw data available for download/viewing?” (No reason to be insulted, if your answer is “yes”, or if you have a good reason/excuse for not providing the data. Definitely reason to be insulted otherwise—but then you deserve the “insult”. Scare quotes because “insult” is really the wrong word; it’s more like “fairly inflicted disapproval”.)
“Could you make the code for your experimental setup available?” (Ditto. There could be good reasons why you can’t or won’t provide this! There’s no insult in that case. But if you don’t provide the code and you have no good reason for not doing so, then you deserve the disapproval.)
“Do you have a reference for that?” (Providing references for claims is good, but not always possible. But if you make an unreferenced claim and you have no good reason for doing that, you deserve the disapproval.)
In cases like this, there is, or should be, an expectation that people who are communicating and truth-seeking in good faith, with integrity, with honest intention of effectiveness, etc., will offer cooperation to each other and to their potential audience. This cooperation takes the form of—where possible—citing references for claims, providing data, publishing code, providing examples, clarifying usage of terms, etc., etc. Where possible, note! Of course these things cannot always be done. But where they can be done, they should be. These are simply the basic expectations, the basic epistemic courtesies we owe to each other (and to ourselves!).
So a question or request like “what are some examples”, “where is the data”, “citation please”—these are nothing more than requests (or reminders, if you like) for those basic elements of cooperation. There is no reason not to fulfill them, if you can. (And plenty of reasons to do so!) Sometimes you can’t, of course; then you say so, explaining why.
But why would you be insulted by any of this? What is the sense in refusing to cooperate in these ways?
(Especially if you have the answer to the question! If you have examples to provide—or data, code, citations, etc.—how the heck am I supposed to extract these things from you, if you think that asking for them is outré? You can provide them up front, or provide them on request—but if you don’t do the first, and take umbrage to the second, then… what’s left?)
(Flagging this as the second of the two comments I said Said could make. I’ve disabled his ability to comment/post for now. You’re welcome to send moderators PMs to continue discussion with us. I’m working on a reply to your other comment addressed more specifically)
I expect to perceive a bare “what are some examples?” as mildly insulting even if the author is like “yes absolutely, here you go”. And I expect to percieve a bare “examples?” as slightly more insulting.
I don’t think it’s mildly insulting, I think it’s ambiguously insulting, in that a person wanting to insult you might do it. But in general I think it’s a totally reasonable question in truth-seeking and I’d be sad if people required disclaimers to clarify that it isn’t meant insultingly, just to ask for examples of what the person is talking about.
(Commenting from Recent Discussion)
Seconding Ben Pace’s answer. This sort of thing is one case of a larger category of questions one might ask. Others include:
“Is the raw data available for download/viewing?” (No reason to be insulted, if your answer is “yes”, or if you have a good reason/excuse for not providing the data. Definitely reason to be insulted otherwise—but then you deserve the “insult”. Scare quotes because “insult” is really the wrong word; it’s more like “fairly inflicted disapproval”.)
“Could you make the code for your experimental setup available?” (Ditto. There could be good reasons why you can’t or won’t provide this! There’s no insult in that case. But if you don’t provide the code and you have no good reason for not doing so, then you deserve the disapproval.)
“Do you have a reference for that?” (Providing references for claims is good, but not always possible. But if you make an unreferenced claim and you have no good reason for doing that, you deserve the disapproval.)
In cases like this, there is, or should be, an expectation that people who are communicating and truth-seeking in good faith, with integrity, with honest intention of effectiveness, etc., will offer cooperation to each other and to their potential audience. This cooperation takes the form of—where possible—citing references for claims, providing data, publishing code, providing examples, clarifying usage of terms, etc., etc. Where possible, note! Of course these things cannot always be done. But where they can be done, they should be. These are simply the basic expectations, the basic epistemic courtesies we owe to each other (and to ourselves!).
So a question or request like “what are some examples”, “where is the data”, “citation please”—these are nothing more than requests (or reminders, if you like) for those basic elements of cooperation. There is no reason not to fulfill them, if you can. (And plenty of reasons to do so!) Sometimes you can’t, of course; then you say so, explaining why.
But why would you be insulted by any of this? What is the sense in refusing to cooperate in these ways?
(Especially if you have the answer to the question! If you have examples to provide—or data, code, citations, etc.—how the heck am I supposed to extract these things from you, if you think that asking for them is outré? You can provide them up front, or provide them on request—but if you don’t do the first, and take umbrage to the second, then… what’s left?)
(Flagging this as the second of the two comments I said Said could make. I’ve disabled his ability to comment/post for now. You’re welcome to send moderators PMs to continue discussion with us. I’m working on a reply to your other comment addressed more specifically)