I have been for several days in a remote part of India with little or no Internet access. I only learned this morning that EssJay used his false credentials in content disputes. I understood this to be primarily the matter of a pseudonymous identity (something very mild and completely understandable given the personal dangers possible on the Internet) and not a matter of violation of people's trust. I want to make it perfectly clear that my past support of EssJay in this matter was fully based on a lack of knowledge about what has been going on. Even now, I have not been able to check diffs, etc.
I was hoping that was all that was behind your dismissal of the issue. I think that should put to rest the (few, admittingly) calls for your resignation...
I have asked EssJay to resign his positions of trust within the community. In terms of the full parameters of what happens next, I advise (as usual) that we take a calm, loving, and reasonable approach.
Good call.
From the moment this whole thing became known, EssJay has been contrite and apologetic. People who characterize him as being "proud" of it or "bragging" are badly mistaken.
I'm not sure I agree. There may be some things EssJay has said that I've missed, but none of the things I've seen looked like a genuine apology to me. In order to apologise, you have to admit that you were wrong, I haven't seen him do that yet. (If I have indeed missed the appropriate message, I would appreciate being linked in the right direction.)
Despite my personal forgiveness, I hope that he will accept my resignation request, because forgiveness or not, these positions are not appropriate for him now.
Indeed, there is a difference between forgiveness and trust. Forgiveness is a personal thing and carries with it no real risks, trust is quite a different matter.
And to those in this thread commenting on how different Jimbo's reaction has been to everyone else, I'll point out the main thing Jimbo did that no-one else did: He officially requested EssJay's resignation. No-one else did that because no-one else could - everyone else was limited to expressing their opinions on the matter, and as that was all they could do, they did it a lot.