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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Alzrius" data-source="post: 9376942" data-attributes="member: 8461">Leaving aside the issue of the specifics involved (e.g. WotC having a chart of the ages of D&D players, Gen Con presumably having a chart of the ages of attendees, etc. all being different things), the idea that "other people have shown their work, so why should these guys have to bother?" isn't a helpful stance, even when their results happen to fall broadly in line with what other people have said. As a general rule, if you're justifying being less rigorous, then you're not making a positive contribution.I'm afraid it is; see below.You keep saying this, and keep missing the point in doing so. As I said in my previous post, if you can't show how you got your results, then the fact that your results are broadly in line with other people's results doesn't make them any more credible. It's why <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hitchens%27s_razor" target="_blank">Hitchens's razor</a> is a thing (and why it also applies to repeated instances of someone saying "but all this other data proves them right!" and then failing to supply the other data in question).Not nearly as bizarre as you fixating on the example, and not the actual point under discussion. So I'll say again, even if WotC happens to be right, that's besides the point: skepticism is the proper response when someone posts results, especially about themselves, without showing their work.But apparently, that's a controversial position now.  <img class="smilie smilie--emoji" alt="🤷‍♂️" src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f937-2642.png" title="Man shrugging    :man_shrugging:" data-shortname=":man_shrugging:" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" />That companies will make statements without showing how they reached them, and games will eat it up despite those same companies having track records of making mistakes and even sometimes being less than completely forthright about things? I completely agree. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=";)" title="Wink    ;)"  data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" />And yet you keep being notably unable to cite these data points that you place so much faith in.</blockquote>

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