[WikiEN-l] Correction to New Yorker Article

[stvrtg]

On 3/2/07, Gwern Branwen <gwern0 at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> As one of those "anonymous" users (I certainly hope I cannot be
> counted among the disgruntled), I feel I must protest. I do not
> think the criticism of myself and people like me is "ironic" in
> any way: our very ability to work peaceably and quietly on the
> wiki demonstrates that one does not need to fabricate a false
> life, ostensibly in order to defend oneself against trolls and
> assorted ne'er-do-wells. Our existence militates against the very
> suggestion of a false dichotomy (between either risking your
> personal life by revealing everything truthful, or simply making
> stuff up which sounds plausible) - there is at least a third
> option: to say nothing. Americans might be familiar with the idea
> of a 'Fifth amendment'; I would like to say that on a wiki, about
> your private life you *do* have the right to remain silent.


I think most people agree that what Essjay did was a mistake.
But I dislike people who find it easy to dismiss someone's years of
good work on the basis of a mistake, and moreso if that dismissal
rests on some inflated concept about what that mistake was or means.

-Stevertigo