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

[Ray Saintonge]

Phil Sandifer wrote:

>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.
>
Nor did he set up a vendetta site after be was found out.  If the 
article had been left alone it would likely have quicly faded into 
obscurity.  The more we argue about the article, the more it remains in 
the public eye.

Ec