On 3/3/07, Jimmy Wales jwales@wikia.com wrote: >
Wikipedia is built on (among other things) twin pillars of trust and tolerance. The integrity of the project depends on the core community being passionate about quality and integrity, so that we can trust each other. The harmony of our work depends on human understanding and forgiveness of errors.
The problem isn't that Essjay created a false biography in order to protect himself from real life harrassment. I don't think anyone would have a problem if all he did was say he lives in a different state etc. The problem is he lied about his credentials and used those false credentials in order to give himself a false authority in a certain field (religion and theology) and used that false authority to his advantage when editing articles in that field. Indeed, claiming you have a PhD when you are not gives you a certain credibility even outside the field your PhD is supposedly in.
If Essjay just didn't want people to know who and where he was he could have said he works as a cashier in Seattle or a farmhand in Wisconsin. Instead he chose to give himself a PhD in Theology and make himself a professor. In the real world of research and writing if someone were to fake their credentials in such a way they'd be fired. In the world of Wikipedia you're elevated to the highest echelons and given a full time paid job.
Jimbo, when did you know about this deception and why did you minimize it when you talked to the New Yorker?
Those comments to the New Yorker have done much more to harm Wikipedia's reputation than Essjay's original offence. It's good that Essjay has apologized to you. When is he going to apologize to ther est of the wikipedia community and when, for that matter, are YOU going to apologize. You must have known the truth when you hired him at Wikia. Why did it take bad press to make you realize there was a problem with this?