[WikiEN-l] Proposal for simplified credentials model

[William Pietri]

K P wrote:
> I don't think credentials is the answer to the Essjay problem, because I
> think the problem was with the press, not with Wikipedia. 


For me, the external problem went well beyond the press. Essjay claiming 
he had a couple of doctorates was not so good, and using them in content 
disputes was worse. But I think the real problem came when he claimed to 
be a tenured professor, trying to make both himself and Wikipedia look 
better by drawing on the social standing we give to professors. That he 
did it in the press is what made the problem such a big deal externally, 
but you can't blame them for reporting things people care about.

As the Chronicle of Higher Education wrote, "But the incident is clearly 
damaging to Wikipedia's credibility -- especially with professors who 
will now note that one of the site's most visible academics has turned 
out to be a fraud."

Looking at [[User:Jimbo Wales/Credential Verification]] it looks like 
the proposal would try to cover situations like this, so I think 
credential verification could have at least helped were it widely used.

William


-- 
William Pietri <william at scissor.com>
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:William_Pietri