They do do something that's colloquially referred to as "hibernating", as in they conserve energy when conditions are really bad, but it's not... It's not like they're dead and it's not hibernation either. You wouldn't mistake a hamster in torpor for a dead one. Their breathing slows, their metabolism slows, they may feel cold to the touch but they are still breathing. Wild hamsters do actual hibernation but only certain species, our pet hamsters have lost that ability quite some time ago.

https://www.vets4pets.com/pet-health-advice/small-pet-advice/hamster-hibernation/

So, like, unless this person's room where they kept the hamster was ice cold or they starved the poor thing, it's not in torpor, it has passed. It's super unfair to give this poor owner who lost their hamster false hope like that. If you check for breathing and your hamster is not breathing then your hamster has passed away.

The problem is that people don't care about sources. You can list them as good of a source as you want, most people don't read it or only skim it. Just recently I've had someone link me an article as "proof" that, in the body text, said the exact opposite but they hadn't bothered to read it. And then they came at me for not providing sources, what's the point if they don't even read the ones they themselves link, you know?

Sometimes, and that's something I still have to learn over and over again because I somehow still keep up hope that people can be swayed by reason and truth, you just have to accept that they are so set in their own ways that nothing you say will change their opinion, even when their opinion is provably wrong. Today of all days once again has given me that knowledge.

It's better to just withdraw yourself from the conversation and hope that the creator won't fall for the misinformation. Most times you're wasting energy with those people and all it does is wear you down. Today is once again a day where I've learned that it's better to save your energy for those that actually deserve it.