[WikiEN-l] a final word on Essjay

[Sheldon Rampton]

Sam Blacketer wrote:

> The really depressing thing about the episode is that so many  
> editors did
> seem to want a public lynching, and thought it would be for the  
> good of us
> all. All it was was just a childish joke by Essjay when he first  
> signed up,
> that ran away with him and only caught up when he was well-known  
> enough to
> really harm him. Not to say that I approve of what he did but I do  
> have
> immense sympathy for him.

It probably *began* as a joke, but it was Essjay's own actions that  
made it snowball out of control. He went beyond fabricating  
credentials and actually cited them in support of editorial  
decisions. When he took the job at Wikia, he failed to anticipate  
that the disparity between his pretend bio and his real one would  
become publicly known. When it *did* become known, he gave an  
explanation ("I had to use disinformation so people wouldn't hunt me  
down and kill me") that is both implausible and inconsistent with the  
public record about when and how he began calling himself a  
professor. Each of these decisions contributed further to erosion of  
trust.

Personally, I have nothing against Essjay. I can empathize with the  
situation he's in, because I've done some stupid, wrong things in my  
own life too. (Fortunately for me, my worst errors didn't happen on  
the internet.) I think the mistakes he made were mostly due to youth  
and lack of experience.

Awhile back I dealt with some problems on our website that were  
caused by operator error at our web hosting service. To make matters  
worse, the operator who made the error didn't come clean at first,  
which further delayed our efforts to fix the problem. I was livid and  
wanted to get the guy fired until our webmaster (who is sometimes  
wiser than me) said, "He's probably young. When you're young and  
screw up, you're more likely to try to bluff your way through. When  
you're old like we are and screw up, you know the truth is going to  
come out anyway, so you just admit to it." I remembered some of my  
own past errors, and my anger cleared. I think this is pretty much  
what happened with Essjay too. He's young, did something stupid, and  
what probably began for him as an amusing little fiction blew up into  
something worse because he tried to bluff his way through instead of  
coming clean. That's wrong, but it's also forgiveable. His  
transgression was not that major. No one died, no money was stolen.  
The damage that this incident has done to Wikipedia's (and Jimbo's)  
reputation is manageable.

I think Essjay still has the ability to regain his position of trust  
within the Wikipedia community if he wishes to do so. He simply has  
to demonstrate candor, contrition, and an understanding of what he  
did wrong. It's unfortunate that he seems to have decided to simply  
leave the project. I know that what he's been through is unpleasant  
and embarrassing, but there is a way back if he wants to take it.

The actor Hugh Grant, by the way, is often cited in by PR "crisis  
management" experts as a model for how people should handle  
embarrassing situations. After Grant was arrested with a prostitute  
in 1995, he didn't duck or deny, didn't go into seclusion, didn't  
make excuses. He went on the talk-show circuit and faced the jokes  
and criticism. His answer to Jay Leno was a model of what someone  
ought to say when they get caught in a screwup: "I did a bad thing...  
and there you have it.” His self-deprecating humor won him quick  
forgiveness, and his career never suffered.

http://arts.guardian.co.uk/filmandmusic/story/0,,1982587,00.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/09/movies/09cris.html? 
ex=1312776000&en=2de709e8500c2501&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

The corollary is that Essjay's defenders haven't really done him any  
favors by excusing his actions or (worse) praising them, as some have  
done. Accepting his excuses or calling his critics a "baying mob"  
didn't answer anyone's concerns. If anything, they simply prolonged  
the "denial" stage of his crisis and made it harder for him to do  
what he would have to do to recover the trust that he has lost.

--------------------------------
|  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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