Why so many people trust them is an interesting question that should be researched by someone who is Not Me. (And may have already been, in fairness; I haven't looked.)
I have a suspicion.
My suspicion is that it's tied to a deeply-held feeling many people have that reading a text = knowing the knowledge.
Which. I mean. It's not. In library-school reference classes, frex, instructors are VERY CLEAR that Westlaw access doesn't make a librarian into a lawyer.
