I will consider criticism of Essjay particularly valid when it is accompanied by a general call to eliminate pseudonymous editing of Wikipedia. The vast majority of editors on Wikipedia are anonymous, and I'm sure they have their various reasons, but anyone whose persona is not congruent with their real personality is doing exactly what Essjay did, on one level or another.
I don't expect a lot of support for this position, but it's the logical extension of the outcry against Essjay's charade.
On 3/1/07, Stan Shebs stanshebs@earthlink.net wrote:
Sheldon Rampton wrote:
Stan Shebs wrote:
I find myself looking on it as "foolish" rather than "unacceptable". There *are* stalkers and freaks who go after WP editors, and our attitude has generally been that if it's not happening on WP itself, it's not our problem.
No, it's unacceptable. Essjay didn't merely misrepresent himself on his user page (behavior that in and of itself might not be so bad). He made the situation much, much worse by LYING TO A REPORTER while acting as a spokesperson for Wikipedia. Moreover, he did this to a reporter at The New Yorker, which is a famous stickler for factual accuracy. No serious journalist will trust him ever again. I'm frankly amazed that Jimbo would say he doesn't have a problem with this.
That's a good point - I've only been paying attention to the on-WP aspect. While we can't regulate all editors' user pages, we can certainly set a higher standard for people who are given out as "spokespersons".
I can see more than a little embarassment for the New Yorker here too. Retired professors tend to have left a long trail behind them - I talked casually with one the other day, took just ten minutes with Google to reconstruct his professional career given only last name and a mention of a couple of his research interests. I wonder how NYer managed not to take any interest in independently looking up any of Essjay's background.
Stan
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