On 08/03/07, Oldak Quill oldakquill@gmail.com wrote:
I agree with what Florence says and oppose credential verification generally. I also want to add a specific opposition to this proposal as it gives the impression that credentials are default and that users have to opt-out.
More importantly, I'm not sure it does have a point except in extreme cases.
Essjay got all the community jobs going because he earnt them through doing lots of hard work well. His edits using his claimed credentials were few compared to that. But the latter were enough to have him asked to resign all the former.
I think the example of Essjay, and the community approbation at his falsely-claimed credentials, demonstrates that "don't lie on your userpage" is *already* an implicit rule, and doesn't need a special rule (per Shelton) or a registry for credentials (per Jimbo or Erik) - editors of good faith won't lie about credentials. Many even link to their university or company.
- d.