A non-existent information source cited in research when published sources do not exist (e.g., anecdotal information, unpublished industry knowledge), or when presented material was spontaneously created by the author (e.g., a novel framework to explain a business issue). Derived from the phrase 'pulled it out of my ass', contemporized to the age of the Internet.

When you eat dirt for the first time and leave your family to build a shack in the woods