[WikiEN-l] Attack Site Wars, Episode VII... The Return of the Essjay

[Phil Sandifer]

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