I definitely favor the link for a couple of reasons.

First, I find myself put off by long blocks of obvious cut-and paste text, and I confess I don't often give them more than a cursory glance to get the gist of the thing. Long strings of statistics are particularly snooze-producing. Gimme a link for this kind of thing. I'm more inclined to read something if a person posts a link with a word or two about what it is, or maybe a sample paragraph or two (75 words sounds about right). If you're trying to convince me of something, present a reasonable argument, complete with a link for any data that might need backing up. This is far more effective that trying to bury me in sheer bulk.

Second, I can then see what the source is. Not all web sites are authoritative or credible, and this way, I can evaluated it for myself. Uncredited citations are always suspect.

Don Firth