On 3/4/07, Sam Blacketer sam.blacketer@googlemail.com wrote:
Apart from a public lynching, what else do people want from him?
The really depressing thing about the episode is that so many editors did seem to want a public lynching, and thought it would be for the good of us all. All it was was just a childish joke by Essjay when he first signed up, that ran away with him and only caught up when he was well-known enough to really harm him. Not to say that I approve of what he did but I do have immense sympathy for him.
Public lynchings are a regular feature of wikipedia. Just look at WP/ANI and especially the method of having a community ban (essentially a wikilynching) instead of a trial by ArbComm.