Etiquette for referencing PF in a publication

EnumaElish

Is it common practice to reference the assistance or advice received from a public forum such as PF in response to a question, if the advice led to betterment or refinement of a scientific paper or article?

If it is, what would be the format?

Moonbear

We aren't really a primary source of information to cite, but to cite a website, you'd want to include the name of the site, the URL of the page you are referring to, and the date it was accessed. It's also a good idea to print out what the page looked like at the time you cited it, in case it changes.

However, from what you're describing, it sounds less like you really want to cite PF, and more that the individuals you had a discussion with helped you develop your ideas. In that case, if it really made a difference to your work with ideas you would not have otherwise thought of on your own, including those individuals in the acknowledgements section would be most appropriate. I would recommend contacting them by PM and letting them know you would like to acknowledge them and ask how to do so (they may prefer to remain anonymous and pass on the acknowledgement, in which case, you are no longer obligated to mention their assistance, or they may share their real names to be included). In such a case, you need not cite PF at all...we're just the means for your communication, not the source of the ideas themselves.

Gokul43201

For an example, see : http://www.physicsforums.com/showthread.php?t=21681

and this paper: http://arxiv.org/PS_cache/gr-qc/pdf/0404/0404086v2.pdf