[WikiEN-l] Correction to New Yorker Article

[Sheldon Rampton]

Stan Shebs wrote:

> I find myself looking on it as "foolish" rather than "unacceptable".
> There *are* stalkers and freaks who go after WP editors, and our
> attitude has generally been that if it's not happening on WP itself,
> it's not our problem.

No, it's unacceptable. Essjay didn't merely misrepresent himself on  
his user page (behavior that in and of itself might not be so bad).  
He made the situation much, much worse by LYING TO A REPORTER while  
acting as a spokesperson for Wikipedia. Moreover, he did this to a  
reporter at The New Yorker, which is a famous stickler for factual  
accuracy. No serious journalist will trust him ever again. I'm  
frankly amazed that Jimbo would say he doesn't have a problem with this.

I've looked at Essjay's rationale and the rather weasely way he tries  
to pretend he didn't quite lie, but the fact is that he did. Let's  
call a spade a spade. By his own account, he spent eight hours being  
interviewed by a reporter and knowingly led her to believe that he  
possessed academic credentials which he did not in fact possess.  
Moreover, the details of the original New Yorker story show that  
during the interview, he elaborated on the fictions in his user page  
so that he could perpetuate the deception. He told the reporter that  
he was a teacher who "often takes his laptop to class, so that he can  
be available to Wikipedians while giving a quiz."

As for the notion that this is somehow acceptable as a form of self- 
defense against "stalkers and freaks," I don't buy it. I happen to be  
a writer of controversial books, and I've even gotten a few threats  
myself as a result, but nevertheless I write under my own name.  
Moreover, someone who wants to conceal their identity with a  
pseudonym can easily do so without assuming false academic  
credentials. Pretending that he was a professor didn't help conceal  
his identity. It was just a lie, and there's no excuse for it.

--------------------------------
|  Sheldon Rampton
|  Research director, Center for Media & Democracy (www.prwatch.org)
|  Author of books including:
|     Friends In Deed: The Story of US-Nicaragua Sister Cities
|     Toxic Sludge Is Good For You
|     Mad Cow USA
|     Trust Us, We're Experts
|     Weapons of Mass Deception
|     Banana Republicans
|     The Best War Ever
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