Board Thread:Questions and Answers Forum/@comment-27761323-20160217194104/@comment-24057866-20160218054051

The basic idea is to make sure that if I want to prove something is one way or another, I can find the proof right from the article without having to search and dig through information or play the game for hours and hours until I finally got whatever item to drop.

In the example you give, the citation actually links to the Destiny API, which you might know as the Bungie.net Armory. The possible perk rolls are also listed in the API, making them virtually inarguable. Because we have this citation, we are able to prevent incorrect information from being added to the article. For example, if someone wanted to claim that their Tarlowe Mark has Fusion Rifle Loader, we know that's probably not true because the API does not list that as a possible perk. They could provide a screenshot or video to prove their claim, but without proof, we will assume that the API is accurate, since the information comes directly from Bungie.

The same goes for any article, including lore articles. There are so many places where information about the Destiny universe is revealed: Grimoire, story missions, item descriptions, quest dialogue, developer interviews, and more. If we allowed anyone to write anything on articles, we would have no way of knowing what's true, what's false, and what's merely speculation. Citations allow us to be sure that all of our information is as correct and reliable as possible.