You're saying asking for sources is a bad thing?

No.

I'm saying asking for sources as a way to express "I don't believe you" is a bad thing.

First of all for the reason I've just given.

But second, because it's passive-aggressive, disguised as interest in discussion, yet so transparent.

I'd generally prefer discussion on Hacker News was kept civil. If the parent had a reputable source for their assertion, I'd be interesting to see it. A lack of a source is also interesting.

Either way, asking for a source is better than just saying 'I don't believe you'.

Also Meta: If your counter-assertion had something real, you would have posted it.

It may seem parallel, but it really isn't.

I don't claim my assertion is hard to find, it's been all over every newspaper all over the world.

Whereas the originally offered assertion is one that's predicated on a big cover-up (that's the whole point of the submitted blog post). So the interested reader cannot actually find it himself, he needs the gracious support by the asserter.