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Essjay controversy

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Timeline
  • July 31, 2006: The New Yorker publishes story about Wikipedia by Schiff.
  • January 2007: Essjay hired by Wikia.
  • January 7, 2007: Essjay posts autobiographical details on his user page at Wikia, giving his name, age, previous employment history from age 19, and positions within various Wikimedia Foundation projects. These details differ sharply from previous assertions on Essjay's Wikipedia user page about his academic and professional credentials.
  • February 23, 2007: Wales announces his appointment of Essjay to Wikipedia's Arbitration Committee.
  • February 28, 2007: Radar Online notes the fact correction appended to the The New Yorker article.
  • March 3, 2007:
    • Wales issues a statement on his user talk page at Wikipedia.
    • Essjay announces his retirement from Wikipedia on his user talk page at Wikipedia.
  • March 5, 2007: Story covered by the New York Times.
  • March 6, 2007: Story featured on World News with Charles Gibson.
  • March 7, 2007: Story covered in an Associated Press article picked up by over 100 media outlets listed in Google news cache.

The Essjay controversy arose in February 2007 after The New Yorker magazine disclosed that prominent English Wikipedia editor and administrator Essjay, who was also briefly employed at Wikia, had lied about his age, background, and academic credentials. Although Essjay had claimed to hold doctoral degrees in theology and canon law as a tenured professor at a private university,[1] he was in fact a community college dropout from the U.S. state of Kentucky and had relied on sources such as Catholicism for Dummies when editing articles.[2] The discrepancy in credentials was brought to public attention when The New Yorker attached an editorial note to a July 2006 article about Wikipedia, for which Essjay had been interviewed. [3]

Reaction to the discovery that Essjay had fraudulently claimed academic credentials was broad-based encompassing commentary and articles in the electronic, print, and broadcast media, as well as within Wikipedia itself.

Wikipedia founder and president of Wikia Jimmy Wales initially showed support for Essjay's use of a pseudonym by stating, "I regard it as a pseudonym and I don’t really have a problem with it."[3] However, upon realizing that Essjay cited his pseudonym's credentials in the context of discussing article content, Wales asked for Essjay's resignation from both his volunteer roles on Wikipedia and his paid job as Community Manager at Wikia.[4] In March 2007, Essjay announced his retirement from Wikipedia.[2]

New Yorker interview

Following a recommendation from the Wikimedia Foundation, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Stacy Schiff interviewed Essjay as a source for a New Yorker article about Wikipedia ("Know It All" July 31, 2006). According to the New Yorker "he was willing to describe his work as a Wikipedia administrator but would not identify himself other than by confirming the biographical details that appeared on his user page."[3] The New Yorker article described Essjay's academic credentials as including two doctorates.[3] At the end of February 2007 the New Yorker updated the article with a correction which indicated "Essjay" had subsequently identified himself as Ryan Jordan.[1] The New Yorker further stated, "he was described in the piece as 'a tenured professor of religion at a private university' with 'a Ph.D. in theology and a degree in canon law.' Essjay now says that his real name is Ryan Jordan, that he is twenty-four and holds no advanced degrees, and that he has never taught."[3] According to Essjay these credentials were part of an online persona he had created, in part, to avoid cyberstalking.[5]

Jordan later bragged on his Wikipedia user page about having fooled Schiff by "doing a good job playing the part."[6] Essjay also claimed to have used his persona's credentials to vouch for Wikipedia's accuracy in a letter he sent to a college professor.[6] According to the Vancouver daily paper 24 Hours, activist and Wikipedia critic Daniel Brandt had discovered the Essjay/Ryan Jordan connection and reported this to The New Yorker.[7]

The Courier-Journal of Louisville, Kentucky reported that Jordan had attended but never graduated from Centre College and Bluegrass Community and Technical College (formerly known as Lexington Community College). The paper also stated that despite his claim to have had a three month special position with a United States bankruptcy trustee, the office had no record that Jordan ever worked there.[1]

Reaction

Wikipedia community

Speaking personally about Jordan, Wales said, “Mr. Ryan [sic] was a friend, and still is a friend. He is a young man, and he has offered me a heartfelt personal apology, which I have accepted. I hope the world will let him go in peace to build an honorable life and reputation.”[8]

Essjay had promptly responded to the controversy with a statement on his Wikipedia user talk page, in part reading:

…I *am* sorry if anyone in the Wikipedia community has been hurt by my decision to use disinformation to protect myself. I'm not sorry that I protected myself; I believed, and continue to believe, that I was right to protect myself, in light of the problems encountered on the internet in these trying times. I have spoken to all of my close friends here about this, and have heard resoundingly that they understand my position, and they support me. Jimbo and many others in Wikipedia's hierarchy have made thier [sic] support known as well…[9]

Reaction from within the Wikipedia community was sharp but mixed. While most editors denounced at least some aspects of his behavior, responses ranged from offering complete support to accusing Jordan of "plain and simple fraud."[10]

As the controversy unfolded the Wikipedia community began a review of Essjay's previous edits and discovered evidence he had relied upon his fictional professorship to influence editorial consideration of edits he made. "People have gone through his edits and found places where he was basically cashing in on his fake credentials to bolster his arguments," said Michael Snow, a Wikipedia administrator and founder of the Wikipedia community newspaper, The Wikipedia Signpost. "Those will get looked at again."[10]

Wales' proposals

Wales was "... reported to be considering vetting all persons who adjudicate on factual disputes."[11] "I don't think this incident exposes any inherent weakness in Wikipedia, but it does expose a weakness that we will be working to address," Wales added.[12] He reportedly insisted that Wikipedia editors still would be able to remain anonymous if they wished. "We always prefer to give a positive incentive rather than absolute prohibition, so that people can contribute without a lot of hassle", Wales commented. However, he also warned that “It's always inappropriate to try to win an argument by flashing your credentials, and even more so if those credentials are inaccurate.”[13] Wales reportedly "...expects contributors to the site who claim certain credentials will soon have to prove they really have them."[14]

Critics

Editor-in-Chief of Citizendium Larry Sanger, a former Wikipedia manager, called Essjay's response as "a defiant non-apology"[15][16] and elsewhere characterized Essjay's actions as "identity fraud." Sanger and longtime Wikipedia critic Andrew Orlowski harshly criticized Jimmy Wales for hiring Essjay at Wikia and appointing him to the Wikipedia arbitration committee after Essjay had apparently admitted his previously claimed academic and professional credentials were false.[16][17] The Register said Essjay's actions betrayed a dangerous community mindset within Wikipedia, stating, "Wikipedians have plainly become a very insular group: they have their own mores and requirements, which are completely independent of the real world. Indeed, that's what this story is about, after all: real-world identities and credentials are rejected as unnecessary by Wikipedia."[18][17][19]

Internet activist Seth Finkelstein said that Wikipedia "fundamentally runs by an extremely deceptive sort of social promise." of which he claims Essjay is a product. Dan Blacharsk of ITworld wrote, "Legitimate writers, scholars and industry experts have very little motivation to contribute to Wikipedia - leaving the project with wannabes and posers like Essjay with too much time on their hands to churn out content."[18][20] Finkelstein also described attracting contributers to Wikipedia as selling a dream of getting academic prestige by working for free, letting Wikia investors reap the rewards and with "Essjay" as "that dream's poster child," having been encouraged by Wikipedia to play out a detailed fantasy role along with "a cadre of acolytes willing to devote their lives (without payment) to the organisation's projects."[6]

Academics

On March 2, 2007 a report in The Chronicle of Higher Education said "the incident is clearly damaging to Wikipedia's credibility – especially with professors who will now note that one of the site's most visible academics has turned out to be a fraud."[21]

However, lecturer Nicola Pratt of the University of East Anglia stated, "The ethos of Wikipedia is that anyone can contribute, regardless of status... What's relevant is their knowledge as judged by other readers, not whether they are professors or not - and the fact the student was exposed shows it works."[22]

See also

  • Criticism of Wikipedia - describes external criticism of Wikipedia, its concepts and contributors.
  • Reliability of Wikipedia - discusses the reliability of information in Wikipedia, including comparisons of accuracy with other resources.

References

Wikinews has related news:
Wikinews has related news:
  1. ^ a b c Wolfson, Andrew (March 6 2007). "Wikipedia editor who posed as professor is Ky. dropout". Local News. The Courier-Journal. Retrieved 2007-03-06. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  2. ^ a b Goldman, Russell (March 6 2007). "Wikiscandal: A Prominent Editor at the Popular Online Encyclopedia Is a Fraud". ABC News. Retrieved 2007-03-06. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  3. ^ a b c d e Schiff, Stacy (July 24 2006). "Can Wikipedia conquer expertise?". Know It All. The New Yorker. Retrieved 2007-03-06. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  4. ^ Ratcliffe, Mitch (March 5, 2007), Wikipedia: Why does Essjay need to “protect himself”?, Zdnet.com. Retrieved March 7, 2007
  5. ^ Zaharov-Reutt, Alex (March 2 2007). "Wikipedia: did one of its admins lie?". iTWire. Retrieved 2007-03-06. Essjay's entire Wikipedia life was conducted with only a user name; anonymity is common for Wikipedia administrators and contributors, and he says that he feared personal retribution from those he had ruled against online. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  6. ^ a b c Finkelstein, Seth (March 8 2007). "Read me first". Oh, what a tangled web we weave when first we practise to deceive. The Guardian. Retrieved 2007-03-07. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Text "Guardian Unlimited Technology" ignored (help); Text "Technology" ignored (help) Cite error: The named reference "Guardian" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  7. ^ King, Ian (March 2 2007). "A Wiki web they've woven". King’s Corner. 24 Hours. Retrieved 2007-03-06. Veteran Wikipeida [sic] critic Daniel Brandt of wikipedia-watch.org first dug up details of Jordan's bamboozling of both Wikipedians and the New Yorker, leading to the magazine running a correction this week, admitting it had been had. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  8. ^ Doran, James (March 8 2007). "Wikipedia Editor Out After False Credentials Revealed". Fox News > Technology. Fox News. Retrieved 2007-03-09. Mr. Ryan was a friend, and still is a friend. He is a young man, and he has offered me a heartfelt personal apology, which I have accepted. I hope the world will let him go in peace to build an honorable life and reputation. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  9. ^ Keen, Andrew. "Laughter and forgetting on Wikipedia", ZDNet -- Where technology means business. Retrieved on 2007-03-09.
  10. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference times was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  11. ^ Staff (March 7 2007). "Wikipedia's 'bogus' editor ousted". Freelance UK. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  12. ^ Doran, James (March 8 2007). "Wikipedia chief promises change after 'expert' exposed as fraud". Times Online UK. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  13. ^ Bergstein, Brian (March 7 2007). "Wikipedia to seek proof of credentials". Associated Press. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  14. ^ Williams, Martyn (2007-03-09). "Wikipedia Founder Addresses User Credentials". PC World. Retrieved 2007-03-09. See User:Jimbo Wales/Credential Verification and its talk page for additional information.
  15. ^ Andrew Orlowski (2007-6-3). "Farewell, Wikipedia?". The Register (U.K.). Retrieved 2007-03-12. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |year= (help)CS1 maint: year (link)
  16. ^ a b Larry Sanger (2007-3-3). "Jimmy Wales' latest response on the Essjay situation". Citizendium Blog. Retrieved 2007-03-12. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |year= (help)CS1 maint: year (link)
  17. ^ a b Andrew Orlowski (2007-6-3). "Bogus Wikipedia Prof. was blessed then promoted". The Register (U.K.). Retrieved 2007-03-02. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |year= (help)CS1 maint: year (link)
  18. ^ a b Dan Blacharski (2007-3-6). "Blog Insights: Wikipedia's great fraud". ITworld. Retrieved 2007-03-12. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |year= (help)CS1 maint: year (link)
  19. ^ Larry Sanger (2007-3-1). "Wikipedia firmly supports your right to identity fraud". Citizendium Blog. Retrieved 2007-03-12. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |year= (help)CS1 maint: year (link)
  20. ^ Seth Finkelstein (2007-03-01). "What The New Yorker Article Fraud Tells Us About Wikipedia". Seth Finkelstein. Retrieved 2007-03-12.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: year (link)
  21. ^ Read, Brock (March 2 2007). "Essjay, the Ersatz Academic". The Chronicle of Higher Education. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  22. ^ MacLeod, Donald (March 7 2007). "Students marked on writing in Wikipedia". The Guardian. Retrieved 2007-03-13. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Text "E-Learning" ignored (help); Text "EducationGuardian.co.uk" ignored (help)
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