I mostly don’t agree that “the pattern is clear”—which is to say, I do take issue with saying “we do not need to imagine counterfactuals”. Here is (to my mind) a salient example of a top-level comment which provides an example illustrating the point of the OP, without the need for prompting.
Yep, indeed, that is an example, and a good one.
Conversely, if no examples come to mind, then a mere request from some other user (“Examples?”) generally will not cause sudden examples to spring into mind (and to the extent that it does, the examples in question are likely to be ad hoc, generated in a somewhat defensive frame of mind, and accordingly less useful).
But I linked a case of exactly the thing you just said won’t happen! I linked it in the comment you just responded to!
The first prong I anticipate is that, empirically, we do observe people providing examples when asked, and not otherwise. My response to this is that (again) this does not serve as evidence for your thesis, since we cannot observe the counterfactual worlds in which this request was/wasn’t made, respectively.
This is a weak response given that I am pointing to a pattern.
I am more sympathetic to this objection than I am to the previous—but still not very sympathetic, as there are quite often other reasons, unrelated to the defensibility of one’s thesis, one might not wish to invest effort in producing such a response.
A very suspicious reply, in the general case. Not always false, of course! But suspicious. If such a condition obtains, it ought to be pointed out explicitly, and defended. It is quite improper, and lacking in intellectual integrity, to simply rely on social censure against requests for examples to shield you from having to explain why in this case it so happens that you don’t need to point to any extensions for your proffered intensions.
In fact, I read Duncan’s complaint as concerned with just this effect: not that being asked to provide examples is bad, but that the accompanying (implicit) interpretation wherein a failure to respond is interpreted as lack of ability to defend one’s thesis creates an asymmetric (and undue) burden on him, the author.
I agree that Duncan’s complaint includes this. I just think that he’s wrong about this. (And wrong in such a way that he should know that he’s wrong.) The burden is (a) not just on the author, but also on the reader (including the one who requested the examples!), and (b) not undue, but in fact quite the opposite.
But with the inclusion of the bolded point, the cost-benefit analysis changes: asking for examples (without accompanying interpretive effort, much of whose use is in signaling to the author that you, the commenter, are interested in reducing the cost to them of responding) is, in this culture, not merely a “formative evaluation” or even a start to such, but a challenge to them to respond—and a timed challenge, at that. And it is not hard at all for me to see why we ought to increase the cost (“debit”, as you put it) for writing minimally useful comments that (often get construed as) issuing unilateral challenges to others!
First, on the subject of “accompanying interpretive effort”: I think that such effort not only doesn’t reduce the cost to authors of responding, it can easily increase the cost. (See my previous commentary on the subject of “interpretive effort” for much expansion of this point.)
Second, on the subject of “cost to the author of responding”: that cost should not be very high, since the author should, ideally, already have examples in mind.
(As an aside, I wonder at the fact that you, and others here, seem so consistently to ignore this point: if an author makes a strong claim, and has no examples ready, and can’t easily come up with such, and also has no good case for why examples are inapplicable / unhelpful / irrelevant / whatever, that is a bad sign. There is a good chance that the author should not have written the post at all, in such a case!)
Third, on the subject of “challenge to the author”: see above re: “cost to the author”, but also note that the “challenge”, such as it is (I’d call it a “question” or a “prompt”; as I say elsewhere, it’s not adversarial by default!) can be met by others, as well.
Yep, indeed, that is an example, and a good one.
But I linked a case of exactly the thing you just said won’t happen! I linked it in the comment you just responded to!
Here is another example.
Here are more examples: one two three (and a bonus particularly interesting sort-of-example)
This is a weak response given that I am pointing to a pattern.
A very suspicious reply, in the general case. Not always false, of course! But suspicious. If such a condition obtains, it ought to be pointed out explicitly, and defended. It is quite improper, and lacking in intellectual integrity, to simply rely on social censure against requests for examples to shield you from having to explain why in this case it so happens that you don’t need to point to any extensions for your proffered intensions.
I agree that Duncan’s complaint includes this. I just think that he’s wrong about this. (And wrong in such a way that he should know that he’s wrong.) The burden is (a) not just on the author, but also on the reader (including the one who requested the examples!), and (b) not undue, but in fact quite the opposite.
First, on the subject of “accompanying interpretive effort”: I think that such effort not only doesn’t reduce the cost to authors of responding, it can easily increase the cost. (See my previous commentary on the subject of “interpretive effort” for much expansion of this point.)
Second, on the subject of “cost to the author of responding”: that cost should not be very high, since the author should, ideally, already have examples in mind.
(As an aside, I wonder at the fact that you, and others here, seem so consistently to ignore this point: if an author makes a strong claim, and has no examples ready, and can’t easily come up with such, and also has no good case for why examples are inapplicable / unhelpful / irrelevant / whatever, that is a bad sign. There is a good chance that the author should not have written the post at all, in such a case!)
Third, on the subject of “challenge to the author”: see above re: “cost to the author”, but also note that the “challenge”, such as it is (I’d call it a “question” or a “prompt”; as I say elsewhere, it’s not adversarial by default!) can be met by others, as well.