[WikiEN-l] EssJay situation

[Thomas Dalton]

> I have been for several days in a remote part of India with little or no
> Internet access.  I only learned this morning that EssJay used his false
> credentials in content disputes.  I understood this to be primarily the
> matter of a pseudonymous identity (something very mild and completely
> understandable given the personal dangers possible on the Internet) and
> not a matter of violation of people's trust.  I want to make it
> perfectly clear that my past support of EssJay in this matter was fully
> based on a lack of knowledge about what has been going on.  Even now, I
> have not been able to check diffs, etc.

I was hoping that was all that was behind your dismissal of the issue.
I think that should put to rest the (few, admittingly) calls for your
resignation...

> I have asked EssJay to resign his positions of trust within the
> community.  In terms of the full parameters of what happens next, I
> advise (as usual) that we take a calm, loving, and reasonable approach.

Good call.

>   From the moment this whole thing became known, EssJay has been
> contrite and apologetic.  People who characterize him as being "proud"
> of it or "bragging" are badly mistaken.

I'm not sure I agree. There may be some things EssJay has said that
I've missed, but none of the things I've seen looked like a genuine
apology to me. In order to apologise, you have to admit that you were
wrong, I haven't seen him do that yet. (If I have indeed missed the
appropriate message, I would appreciate being linked in the right
direction.)

> Despite my personal forgiveness, I hope that he will accept my
> resignation request, because forgiveness or not, these positions are not
> appropriate for him now.

Indeed, there is a difference between forgiveness and trust.
Forgiveness is a personal thing and carries with it no real risks,
trust is quite a different matter.

And to those in this thread commenting on how different Jimbo's
reaction has been to everyone else, I'll point out the main thing
Jimbo did that no-one else did: He officially requested EssJay's
resignation. No-one else did that because no-one else could - everyone
else was limited to expressing their opinions on the matter, and as
that was all they could do, they did it a lot.