I try to use links instead of googlepating if I’m (1) worried about inferential distance issues but (2) think a point is worth making anyway and (3) don’t think the backstory is worth spelling out, boring those who got it in the first place.
Another use is to gesture towards evidence in support of a controversial claim so that if I’m wrong there are fewer trivial inconveniences in the way of some reader finding out about that fact and calling me on it where the other readers can see, which is a component of epistemic hygiene.
I try to use links instead of googlepating if I’m (1) worried about inferential distance issues but (2) think a point is worth making anyway and (3) don’t think the backstory is worth spelling out, boring those who got it in the first place.
Another use is to gesture towards evidence in support of a controversial claim so that if I’m wrong there are fewer trivial inconveniences in the way of some reader finding out about that fact and calling me on it where the other readers can see, which is a component of epistemic hygiene.