Misplaced Pages

Essjay controversy

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  • July 31, 2006 — The New Yorker publishes story about Misplaced Pages by Schiff.
  • January 2007 — Essjay hired by Wikia.
  • January 15, 2007 — Essjay posts autobiographical details on his user page at Wikia, giving his name, age, previous employment history from age 19, and positions within various Wikimedia Foundation projects. These details differ sharply from previous assertions on Essjay's Misplaced Pages user page about his academic and professional credentials.
  • February 23, 2007 — Wales announces his appointment of Essjay to Misplaced Pages's Arbitration Committee.
  • February 28, 2007 — Radar Online notes the fact correction appended to the The New Yorker article.
  • March 3, 2007 —
    • Wales issues a statement on his user talk page at Misplaced Pages.
    • Essjay announces his retirement from Misplaced Pages on his user talk page at Misplaced Pages.
  • March 5, 2007 — Story covered by the New York Times.
  • March 6, 2007 — Story featured on World News with Charles Gibson.
  • March 7, 2007 — Story covered in Associated Press article picked up by over 100 media outlets listed in Google news cache

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The Essjay controversy arose after The New Yorker magazine disclosed that a prominent English Misplaced Pages editor and administrator known by the name "Essjay", who was also briefly employed at Wikia, had lied about his age, background, and academic credentials, including a claim to have two doctoral degrees.

At the recommendation of 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 notable academic credentials, which he confirmed at the time. In February 2007 an editor's note was added to the original article, according to the note "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." Essjay has said these credentials were non-existent and were part of an online persona he had created in part to avoid cyberstalking.

Essjay had described himself on his user profile as "a tenured professor of theology at a private university in the eastern United States." But he was actually a 24-year-old community college dropout from Kentucky, and relied on sources such as Catholicism for Dummies when editing articles.

Jimbo Wales, co-founder of Misplaced Pages, was initially supportive of Jordan's right to use a pseudonym. However, after evidence that he had used his false credentials to win Misplaced Pages content disputes with other editors became known, Jordan left both his volunteer roles on Misplaced Pages and his paid job as Community Manager at Wikia. As of March, 2007, Jordan is retired 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.'" He now claims he's actually "twenty-four and holds no advanced degrees, and that he has never taught." An investigation by The Courier-Journal of Louisville, Kentucky found he had attended, but never graduated from, Centre College and Bluegrass Community and Technical College (formerly known as Lexington Community College). The paper also found 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.

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.

Fallout from the controversy

Misplaced Pages co-founder Jimmy Wales' initial response to news of this administrator's invented persona was, “I regard it as a pseudonym and I don’t really have a problem with it.” As a result of the controversy, 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." Following the provision of evidence that Essjay has used his credentials to influence debates, Wales wrote on his Misplaced Pages User talk page, "I have asked Essjay to resign his positions of trust within the community." Essjay retired from Misplaced Pages on March 3 2007. Essjay also resigned from Wikia, Wales's for-profit company. Reaction from within the Misplaced Pages community was sharp but mixed, with some fellow editors offering complete support while others accused Jordan of "plain and simple fraud."

In reaction to the incident, Wales was reportedly considering a vetting process for all persons who adjudicate on factual disputes. Additionally, Wales said the site would soon develop a way to check credentials of Misplaced Pages editors who claim to possess them. "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.”

Essjay's response

Soon after the controversy, Essjay responded 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...

See also

References

  1. ^ 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)
  2. ^ 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)
  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. Ratcliffe, Mitch (March 5, 2007), Misplaced Pages: Why does Essjay need to “protect himself”?, Zdnet.com. Retrieved March 7, 2007
  5. ^ 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)
  6. 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)
  7. 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)
  8. ^ 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)
  9. Staff (March 7 2007). "Misplaced Pages's 'bogus' editor ousted". Freelance UK. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  10. 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)
  11. Bergstein, Brian (March 7 2007). "Misplaced Pages to seek proof of credentials". Associated Press. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  12. Essjay's response in his own words on his talk page at 16:06, 1 March 2007 Wikipedian time. My response

Further information

News sources

February 28 2007
March 1 2007
March 2 2007
March 5 2007
March 6 2007
March 7 2007
March 8, 2007

Audio and video

Primary sources

Essjay's userpage images

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