On Jun 27, 2007, at 11:05 AM, The Mangoe wrote:
If we think that Wikipedia is important, then
Essjay's sins are
important. Either it will be an important crisis that we got past, or
it will be the first major outbreak of a problem we never learned to
deal with. Either way, people ten years from now who write about
Wikipedia are going to mention the incident.
I'm skeptical. Why don't we wait ten years and add the article if
you're right?
Seriously. We're the sixth Google hit on Essjay's real name, and the
first one related to him. For all his errors, he was a good member of
the community. He wrote good articles, and was generally a fair, nice
guy. He made a mistake not on Wikipedia but in talking to a reporter.
And despite his false credentials, he also didn't fuck those articles
up with nonsense.
I'm not OK with us being the first thing on him his future employers
see when they Google him. He was a kid when he made his mistakes, and
we shouldn't be the ones to tar and feather him for life over them.
-Phil