Um what's
to stop the expert making a mistake and not realising that
he
has insufficient expertise?
The scenario is that Wikipedia editors have found an expert with a
proven
track-record in the specific subject area of the article, and
solicited his
opinion. In this scenario, the expert's track-record provides some
evidence
that the expert has the expertise -- we wouldn't be relying on his or
her
self-evaluation. Such evidence could never be conclusive, but I think
it's a
lot better than none at all.
-- Matt (User:Matt Crypto)
This is NOT a choice between one single person's academic accreditation
vs. one single person's self-evaluation.
It's a choice between the ''collective'' wisdom and joint assessment
of
a larger group of people** vs. one single person's academic
accreditation.
** some of them likely will just so happen to hold academic degrees
themselves, without that ever being an issue or getting mentioned
- Jens