It is my style to attempt to include definitions of terms in answers; which may or may not be appropriate.
I would like to know if it would be considered OK to just include a reference without details for a major site like wikipedia?
For example, if someone asked how to compute current given voltage and resistance I would reference ohm's law in the answer. Generally I try to include a reference to wikipedia as a preferred source for such definitions.
You can see my style from the preceding paragraph. Now a reference to ohm's law is probably unnecessary for 99% of the members here, but for a reference to Snell's Law a link may be helpful for many junior members.
By the guidelines of this site, I should not be simply including links; the idea being that they may go away. This is perfectly logical for personal sites etc, but for Wikipedia?
The thing is I really don't like the available options which I see as:
1) Don't bother to include a link to a definition of the term, law, formula etc. OK for senior members but less useful for newbees.
2) Include text in the answer as well as the link. While this seems OK it has the undesirable side effect of creating verbose answers that are really only useful to junior members (what real EE wants to see a paragraph detailing Ohm's Law in an answer).
I'm looking for advice and guidance please.