It was nicely ironic that the ABC national news report on Essjay had taken
the tone of criticizing Wikipedia for inaccuracy, while showing itself only
able to provide the most superficially terse look into "the controversy."
The question that Im left with is the matter of process: Why was Essjay
forced to resign when he didn't even get a proper in-process review from the
Arbcom? That of course is why the Arbcom exists, to sort of try to
investigate a case and see if things actually violated the rules.
In which there would have to be an answer for the charge that Essjay used
his pseudonym credentials to "strongarm" others in the context of debates.
The exerpts Ive seen do not show that, rather they show that Essjay stepped
in to offer some clarification and explanation on particular points - not
that he "strongarmed" people with his opinions.
I think that characterization is flatly out of... character.
Aside from any particulars, what this episode in general represents if
anything is how mob rule has overstepped even the Arbcom's role, at a time
when JW has been almost completely out of the loop.
-Stevertigo