Misplaced Pages

Revision as of 23:28, 10 March 2007

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In February 2007 the Essjay controversy arose after The New Yorker magazine disclosed that prominent English Misplaced Pages editor and administrator "Essjay", who was also briefly employed at Wikia, had lied about his age, background, and academic credentials. Although Essjay claimed to be a tenured professor at a private university who held doctoral degrees in theology and canon law, he was in fact a community college dropout from the U.S. state of Kentucky and had relied on sources such as Catholicism for Dummies when editing articles.

Following a recommendation from the Wikimedia Foundation, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Stacy Schiff interviewed Essjay as a source for a July 2006 New Yorker article which described Essjay as having these academic credentials, which he confirmed at the time. In February 2007 an editor's note was added to the original article explaining that the earlier information was false. Essjay, who by this time had identified himself as Ryan Jordan, now said these credentials were part of an online persona he had created in part to avoid cyberstalking.

Misplaced Pages co-founder Jimmy Wales, who is also president of Wikia, was initially supportive of Jordan's right to use a pseudonym. However, upon realizing that Essjay was relying on his pseudonym's credentials as a professor to support his position in Misplaced Pages article content disputes, Wales asked for Jordan's resignation from both his volunteer roles on Misplaced Pages and his paid job as Community Manager at Wikia. In March 2007, Jordan announced his retirement from Misplaced Pages.

New Yorker interview

Essjay was interviewed for a New Yorker article on Misplaced Pages titled "Know It All" published in the July 31, 2006 issue. According to the New Yorker, "he was willing to describe his work as a Misplaced Pages administrator but would not identify himself other than by confirming the biographical details that appeared on his user page."

At the end of February 2007, the New Yorker updated the article with a correction indicating that "Essjay" had identified himself as Ryan Jordan. The New Yorker went on to state, "he was described in the piece as 'a tenured professor of religion at a private university' with 'a Ph.D. in theology and a degree in canon law."Essjay now says that his real name is Ryan Jordan, that he is twenty-four and holds no advanced degrees, and that he has never taught."

According to the Vancouver daily paper 24 Hours, activist and Misplaced Pages critic Daniel Brandt discovered the Essjay/Ryan Jordan connection, and reported this to The New Yorker.

Reactions

News media

The Courier-Journal of Louisville, Kentucky reported that Jordan had attended but never graduated from Centre College and Bluegrass Community and Technical College (formerly known as Lexington Community College). The paper also stated that despite his claim to have had a three month special position with a United States bankruptcy trustee, the office had no record that Jordan ever worked there. Later, at his Misplaced Pages user page, Jordan bragged about fooling Schiff by "doing a good job playing the part."

Educational and other institutions

Essjay also claimed to have sent a letter to a college professor in which he used his persona's credentials to vouch for Misplaced Pages's accuracy in which he wrote, "I am an administrator of the online encyclopedia project Misplaced Pages. I am also a tenured professor of theology; feel free to have a look at my Misplaced Pages userpage (linked below) to gain an idea of my background and credentials. It is never the case that known incorrect information is allowed to remain in Misplaced Pages."

Wales' response

Speaking personally about Jordan, Misplaced Pages co-founder Jimmy Wales said,

Mr. Ryan was a friend, and still is a friend. He is a young man, and he has offered me a heartfelt personal apology, which I have accepted. I hope the world will let him go in peace to build an honorable life and reputation.

Essjay's response

Essjay had promptly responded to the controversy with a statement on his Misplaced Pages user talk page, in part writing:

...I *am* sorry if anyone in the Misplaced Pages community has been hurt by my decision to use disinformation to protect myself. I'm not sorry that I protected myself; I believed, and continue to believe, that I was right to protect myself, in light of the problems encountered on the internet in these trying times. I have spoken to all of my close friends here about this, and have heard resoundingly that they understand my position, and they support me. Jimbo and many others in Misplaced Pages's hierarchy have made thier support known as well...

Outcomes

In the beginning

As the controversy unfolded Misplaced Pages users began a review of Essjay's previous edits and discovered evidence he had relied upon his fictional professorship to influence editorial consideration of edits he made. "People have gone through his edits and found places where he was basically cashing in on his fake credentials to bolster his arguments," said Michael Snow, a Misplaced Pages administrator and founder of the Misplaced Pages community newspaper, The Misplaced Pages Signpost. "Those will get looked at again."

Initial administrative response

Jimmy Wales's initial response to news of this administrator's invented persona had been, “I regard it as a pseudonym and I don’t really have a problem with it,” but after he saw evidence that Essjay had used his credentials to influence debates, Wales wrote on his Misplaced Pages user discussion page, "I have asked Essjay to resign his positions of trust within the community." Reaction from within the Misplaced Pages community was sharp but mixed. While most editors denounced at least some aspects of his behavior, responses ranged from offering complete support to accusing Jordan of "plain and simple fraud."

Proposed solutions in the coming months

Wales was reportedly considering a vetting process for all editors who wish to post their credentials. "I don't think this incident exposes any inherent weakness in Misplaced Pages, but it does expose a weakness that we will be working to address," Wales added. He reportedly insisted that Misplaced Pages editors still would be able to remain anonymous if they wished. "We always prefer to give a positive incentive rather than absolute prohibition, so that people can contribute without a lot of hassle," Wales commented. However, he also warned: “It's always inappropriate to try to win an argument by flashing your credentials, and even more so if those credentials are inaccurate.” Wales reportedly "...expects contributors to the site who claim certain credentials will soon have to prove they really have them."

See also

• Criticism of Misplaced Pages - describes external criticism of Misplaced Pages, its concepts and contributors.
• Reliability of Misplaced Pages - discusses the reliability of information in Misplaced Pages, including comparisons of accuracy with other resources.
• Misplaced Pages community - describes a group of people who edit and volunteer their time, building the world's largest 💕.

References

1. ^ Wolfson, Andrew (March 6 2007). "Misplaced Pages editor who posed as professor is Ky. dropout". Local News. The Courier-Journal. Retrieved 2007-03-06. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
2. Trigilio, John (2003-04-28). Catholicism for Dummies. Indianapolis, IN: Wiley Publishing. ISBN 0-7645-5391-7. {{cite book}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
3. ^ Goldman, Russell (March 6 2007). "Wikiscandal: A Prominent Editor at the Popular Online Encyclopedia Is a Fraud". ABC News. Retrieved 2007-03-06. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
4. ^ Schiff, Stacy (July 24 2006). "Can Misplaced Pages conquer expertise?". Know It All. The New Yorker. Retrieved 2007-03-06. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
5. ^ Zaharov-Reutt, Alex (March 2 2007). "Misplaced Pages: did one of its admins lie?". iTWire. Retrieved 2007-03-06. Essjay's entire Misplaced Pages life was conducted with only a user name; anonymity is common for Misplaced Pages administrators and contributors, and he says that he feared personal retribution from those he had ruled against online. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
6. Ratcliffe, Mitch (March 5, 2007), Misplaced Pages: Why does Essjay need to “protect himself”?, Zdnet.com. Retrieved March 7, 2007
7. King, Ian (March 2 2007). "A Wiki web they've woven". King’s Corner. 24 Hours. Retrieved 2007-03-06. Veteran Wikipeida critic Daniel Brandt of wikipedia-watch.org first dug up details of Jordan's bamboozling of both Wikipedians and the New Yorker, leading to the magazine running a correction this week, admitting it had been had. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
8. ^ Finkelstein, Seth (March 7 2007). "Read me first". Local News. The Guardian. Retrieved 2007-03-07. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
9. "User:Essjay/Letter". WebCite. Retrieved 2007-03-09.
10. Doran, James (March 8 2007). "Misplaced Pages Editor Out After False Credentials Revealed". Fox News > Technology. Fox News. Retrieved 2007-03-09. Mr. Ryan was a friend, and still is a friend," the Misplaced Pages founder said. "He is a young man, and he has offered me a heartfelt personal apology, which I have accepted. I hope the world will let him go in peace to build an honorable life and reputation. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
11. Keen, Andrew. "Laughter and forgetting on Misplaced Pages", ZDNet -- Where technology means business. Retrieved on 2007-03-09.
12. ^ Cohen, Noam (March 5 2007). "A Contributor to Misplaced Pages Has His Fictional Side". Technology. The New York Times. Retrieved 2007-03-06. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
13. Farrell, Nick (March 1 2007). "Misplaced Pages 'expert' lied about qualifications". The Inquirer. Retrieved 2007-03-06. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
14. Staff (March 7 2007). "Misplaced Pages's 'bogus' editor ousted". Freelance UK. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
15. Doran, James (March 8 2007). "Misplaced Pages chief promises change after 'expert' exposed as fraud". Times Online UK. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
16. Bergstein, Brian (March 7 2007). "Misplaced Pages to seek proof of credentials". Associated Press. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
17. Williams, Martyn (2007-03-09). "Misplaced Pages Founder Addresses User Credentials". PC World. Retrieved 2007-03-09.

Screenshots and user images

• Screenshot of Google's cache of Essjay's Misplaced Pages user page, March 1 2007
• Screenshot of Essjay's Wikia staff user page, circa March 1 2007 Screenshot of Essjay's Wikia staff user page, circa March 1 2007
• Image posted by Essjay as himself

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