K P wrote:
I don't think credentials is the answer to the Essjay problem, because I think the problem was with the press, not with Wikipedia.
For me, the external problem went well beyond the press. Essjay claiming he had a couple of doctorates was not so good, and using them in content disputes was worse. But I think the real problem came when he claimed to be a tenured professor, trying to make both himself and Wikipedia look better by drawing on the social standing we give to professors. That he did it in the press is what made the problem such a big deal externally, but you can't blame them for reporting things people care about.
As the Chronicle of Higher Education wrote, "But the incident is clearly damaging to Wikipedia's credibility -- especially with professors who will now note that one of the site's most visible academics has turned out to be a fraud."
Looking at [[User:Jimbo Wales/Credential Verification]] it looks like the proposal would try to cover situations like this, so I think credential verification could have at least helped were it widely used.
William