Abe Sokolov (or somebody using that name) wrote:
The comments unearthed by Sean Barret do not represent
my views, and a
careful examination of my long editing history will demonstrate that.
(Given the economic approaches in which I was inculcated for years, I
probably wouldn't even be considered a social democrat outside the
U.S., let alone a Communist!)
I did not post them, but I suppose that I wouldn't be able to prove
that. Of course, if one were to post similar comments under the names
of Sean Barret and Michael Snow, they wouldn't be able to prove that
they were not the ones making them either... It's quite distressing
that users are searching for dirt on people off Wikipedia in order to
server their political or personal agendas on Wikipedia.
Since this seems partially directed at me, I will point out that I have
not been searching for dirt on anybody. In case it wasn't clear from my
previous post, I was searching for *confirmation* of the professional
credentials 172 has periodically alluded to. This is something that
would serve to _support_ his claim to expertise in certain areas. It
should not diminish his reputation unless he has overstated his
qualifications, and I've seen no real indication of that. Statements
that 172 may or may not have posted in various forums, which may or may
not have been facetious, matter little to me.
On the other hand, if 172 wants to deny any significance to the name he
has chosen and give us no personal information, then we have no evidence
to back up his claims to expertise and might as well disregard them. As
was already noted, the divergence between trying to remain anonymous and
trying to appeal to one's credentials as an expert makes this an
impossible position to maintain.
In my observation, people do pay attention to the fact that some users
have particular professional credentials, and sensible users have shown
some deference toward that expertise. The deference is not complete, of
course, and unfortunately during disagreements some people are
aggressively disrespectful of their opponent's credentials, so an expert
will not necessarily be satisfied with the situation. But if you want
any kind of deference, whether or not you want to go all the way to the
model Larry Sanger advocates, being willing to allow evidence of your
credentials is a pretty basic requirement.
--Michael Snow