On 3/5/07, Erik Moeller erik@wikimedia.org wrote:
I don't think community support can be gauged fairly from the response to the Essjay situation. Essjay was a highly respected contributor, and many were inclined to respect and defend his desire to create a fake identity without an informed debate about the nature of credentials, and why it is important that we treat such statements with care.
I believe this debate needs to take place now, independently of the Essjay incident.
You can have it takeing place now or you can have it independent of the Essjay incident. you can't have both.
Why won't it look good? I don't believe there's a problem with removing claims, or perhaps adding an {{UnverifiedCredentials}} template.
Someone has a degree and mentions it on their userpage. They then apply for adminship but have no wish to provide data on themselves to the foundation. So they have to take the information off. There is then a risk of people holding that against them.