Indeed, I don’t count unsubstantiated claims as evidence. Neither should you, unless you enjoy being Pascal-mugged.
I take ubsubstantiated claims as evidence. I take damn near everything as evidence. Depending on the context the unsubstantiated claims may count for or against the conclusion they are intended to support.
In fact, sometimes I count substantiated claims as evidence against the conclusion they support (because given the motivation of the persuader I expected them to be able to come up with better evidence if it were available.)
I take ubsubstantiated claims as evidence. I take damn near everything as evidence. Depending on the context the unsubstantiated claims may count for or against the conclusion they are intended to support.
In fact, sometimes I count substantiated claims as evidence against the conclusion they support (because given the motivation of the persuader I expected them to be able to come up with better evidence if it were available.)