Originally Posted by cjbrowne 2 - 5 seconds is massive in terms of page load times, and I definately wouldn't want people waiting for the jquery libraries to load unless I was using them extensively throughout my site. There's a lot to be said for hand-coding features in Javascript. If we all rely on using jquery for every little effect we want, then who's going to be around still with the javascript skills needed for creating better alternatives to jquery in the future? I'd like to think that people who use jquery can still write their own javascript and understand why jquery works (or doesn't), and how to customise jquery for their own purposes.

First, there will always be people out there with skills in all the coding / programming fields. Don't worry!

2nd - I'm sorry but you are wrong. 2-5 seconds for little effects is WELL worth it. Again it depends what kind of website you use it in.
EX: If you're building portfolio website (a nice one), then you need to attract the potential customer with everything you can. And in today's web trend people like to see animation. Why do it in flash when you can do it with jquery?

3rd - A lot, and I mean a lot of TOP companies out there are using Jquery. A common thing I see too, is some websites out there are having a special rollover (forgot the name) on the navigation. Looks fancy but it cost them 800 KB just for the nav effect. But they still use it? Wonder why....

4th - You can host your scrips on a different server. Google offers it as well. Free of charge!

Again, respect your opinion but still don't see any point.