It did though, someone else came in to link the requested reference. As an American I knew nothing of the "Five Techniques" and learned something new today as a direct result of that comment.

If you make a statement of fact you have an obligation to back it up with references. It makes perfect sense then that statements without references can and should be challenged to provide them.

which is why if you're making a non-trivial claim, the claimant should take an extra minute to paste his source.

While I was aware of the five techniques, I literally googled "uk torture" and that was pretty much the first link I got.

If you really want sources, I think doing a quick google search before asking for them is a good idea. Not that you shouldn't ask for them, but doing even a single search before that doesn't take more than 10 seconds.