David Gerard wrote:
I was most amused to see Daniel Brandt ranting about it, considering that avoiding Brandt's blatant stalking and harassment of editors was one of the main reasons for Essjay doing it.
While there is some irony there, I suspect many "this isn't a big deal" people are, well, missing the point. If Essjay simply said "I'm a guy who's initials are S.J. from Location, and my specialty is in religious areas," and then it turns out that he's R.J from Different Location, then there's no real problem - he created a pseudonym and sent people off-track in a whole different area. The problem comes when he claimed to be a tenured professor, a PhD even. His expert opinion was then solicited in discussions (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Talk:Five_solas&diff=prev&...), probably giving extra weight to it, and he even made a claim of being one of Wikipedia's "foremost experts" on the subject (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Talk:Confession&diff=prev&...), which I posit was possibly blatantly false given his true education levels, and certainly not a statement he could make an educated stab at.
I've edited for a very long time with a nickname I use across the internet, and with my real name readily available. When I've been interviewed by a newspaper for Wikipedia, I used my real name. If he felt worried about trolls and maliciousness, then that's fine, but that's also not a free pass to misrepresent one's education levels, and to continue up the Wikimedia ladder after it's been revealed. The line in the sand is pretty clear here - no one would have said a peep if minor, inconsequential facts were blurred for the sake of anonyminity. When you start working advanced degrees and tenureship into the equation, well...
-Jeff Raymond BA, History and Political Science And nothing else.