;-)
I always enjoy our exchanges.
Serious discussion / debate takes serious time. Hunting through old books for just the right quote often takes hours, and sometimes proves fruitless.
Way easier, whenever possible, to cite a quick reference from Wikipedia. And more often than not, that's enough to establish a relatively simple point.
I might also mention that I have noticed whole Wikipedia articles getting re-written, sometimes right in the middle of a discussion where I'm trying to look up data, and from one time to the next the article changed -- sometimes clearing up the very point I was hoping to research.
I kid you not, it's happened. Spooky... ;-)
That's just another reason not to use it. While it will change to meet your point, sometimes it will change to counter what you said. When that happens you will make a point and back it up with a wiki point and when someone goes to look at that point it makes it look like you don't know what you are saying. It's like the old Dennis Miller skit about the public having access to the brakes on the old trains in movies. I'd hate for my post to suddenly loose all its credibility because Gus thought he saw a woodchuck. Most of the references I make are based on books that I have right here. I usually remember generally which book, and around what part of it I read it so it doesn't take me long to find it again (usually). I have a rather extensive library and I keep growing it every day. I have a friend of mine that just got promoted to full colonel so he's moving to a new station and he is giving me all his "Roots of Strategy" books. I only have volume 4. I'm looking forward to digging into these. Tijeras_Slim also gave me his old books that he wasn't reading anymore. I'm a veracious reader so I love it. I do understand your point though that it is quicker to just Wiki it. It's probably why you can come up with an extensive reply when I usually don't have time to put together a reply that I would like. It's a matter of preference I guess. I do, like you, enjoy our exchanges though. They are always thoughtful and delve into the crannies that most others are not aware of. We are going to have fun come October-December of next year when we really get into the degree of detail FDR knew and what he did with the information. We are almost in agreement on it, but there are some details we are going to volley around. :)