Try following the references on big Wiki pages and you will see why Wikipedia pages are nightmarish for any kind of research. This is important when you are trying to drill down to the sources of various claims. Many major pages relating to significant events and concepts are riddled with rotted links.
The page can be completely correct and accurate, but if you cannot trace the references then it cannot be verified and you cannot make the claims in a new work as a result. The whole point of references is to make it so that the claims can be independently verified. Even when there isn't a link rot problem you will often find junk references that cannot be verified.
Wikipedia isn't a bad starting point and sometimes you can find good references. But it is not anywhere close to reliable: just trace the references in the next 20 Wiki articles you read and your faith will be shaken.
The page can be completely correct and accurate, but if you cannot trace the references then it cannot be verified and you cannot make the claims in a new work as a result. The whole point of references is to make it so that the claims can be independently verified. Even when there isn't a link rot problem you will often find junk references that cannot be verified.
Wikipedia isn't a bad starting point and sometimes you can find good references. But it is not anywhere close to reliable: just trace the references in the next 20 Wiki articles you read and your faith will be shaken.