Consider the following test.md:

 -@foo

Processing with pandoc test.md -t json gives

[{"unMeta":{}},[{"t":"Para","c":[{"t":"Cite","c":[[{"citationSuffix":[],"citationNoteNum":0,"citationMode":{"t":"AuthorInText","c":[]},"citationPrefix":[],"citationId":"foo","citationHash":0}],[{"t":"Str","c":"@foo"}]]}]}]]

Now, consider the following test.md with the minus sign having been dropped:

 @foo

Processing with pandoc test.md -t json gives exactly the same json as above.

It seems to me that since the files are different, the json should also be different.

This Issue is of interest for my pandoc-fignos/eqnos/tablenos filters. I would like to use the minus sign to modify the referencing behaviour for figures/equations/tables. I can (and will) use other characters, but the semantic meaning of the minus sign is clearer.