templates add unnecessary coding to the wikitext for the same information templated citations are almost always longer and more complex compare ap may sean combs receives walk of fame star today msnbc msn com retrieved there is a difference but visually these look pretty much the same if you've already got ap may sean combs receives walk of fame star today msnbc msn com retrieved then cite web author ap url title sean combs receives walk of fame star publisher today msnbc msn com date may accessdate adds the clutter of field identifiers author url title date templated text also typically takes longer to load render in a browser