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The Essjay controversy related to a prominent Misplaced Pages administrator and salaried Wikia employee, Essjay (later self-identified as Ryan Jordan). In February 2007, Essjay was found to have made false claims about his academic qualifications and professional experiences on his Misplaced Pages user page and to journalist Stacy Schiff during an interview for The New Yorker, and to have exploited his supposed qualifications as leverage in internal disputes over Misplaced Pages content. The issues highlighted within the controversy included his falsifying of a persona and qualifications, the impact of this deception on perceptions of Misplaced Pages (and its policies and credibility), and the quality of decisions made in his promotion, support, and employment.
Reactions to the disclosure were diverse, encompassing commentary and articles in the electronic, print, and broadcast media; the Misplaced Pages community researched Essjay's article edits to check for errors, and debated proposals to improve the project's handling of personal identification. In his activities as an editor, Essjay had spent less time editing the content of articles and more time addressing vandalism and resolving editorial disputes.
Misplaced Pages co-founder Jimmy Wales initially supported Essjay's use of a persona, saying, "I regard it as a pseudonym and I don’t really have a problem with it." Later Wales withdrew his support and asked for Essjay's resignation from his positions with Misplaced Pages and Wikia. Wales stated that he withdrew his support when he learned "that EssJay [sic] used his false credentials in content disputes" on Misplaced Pages.
The New Yorker interview
Stacy Schiff, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist writing for the magazine The New Yorker, interviewed Essjay as a source for an article about Misplaced Pages ("Know It All"; July 31, 2006) after he was recommended to her by a member of the Wikimedia Foundation. According to The New Yorker, Essjay "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."
During the interview, Jordan told The New Yorker, and had previously stated on his Misplaced Pages user page, that he held doctoral degrees in theology and canon law, and worked as a tenured professor at a private university. It was later discovered that he was 24 years old, and had dropped out of community college with no qualifications. The New Yorker published a correction in February 2007, which brought the issue to broader public attention.
Describing his academic credentials as including two doctorates, the article said that Essjay spent some fourteen hours or more a day on Misplaced Pages but was careful to keep his online life a secret from his colleagues and friends. Essjay was portrayed as often taking his laptop to class, so he could be available to other Wikipedians while giving a quiz. He asserted that he required anonymity to avoid cyberstalking.
Essjay claimed that he had sent an email to a real-life college professor using his invented persona's credentials, vouching for Misplaced Pages's accuracy. In the message he wrote in part, "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."
Identity revealed
When Essjay was hired by Wikia in January 2007, he made changes to his Wikia profile and "came clean on who he really was," identifying himself as Ryan Jordan. Other Misplaced Pages editors questioned Essjay on his Misplaced Pages talk page about the apparent discrepancy between his new Wikia profile and his previously claimed credentials. Essjay posted a detailed explanation in response to the first inquiry, stating that:
There are a number of trolls, stalkers, and psychopaths who wander around Misplaced Pages and the other Wikimedia projects looking for people to harass, stalk, and otherwise ruin the lives of (several have been arrested over their activities here)...You will eventually say something that will lead back to you, and the stalkers will find it...I decided to be myself, to never hide my personality, to always be who I am, but to utilize disinformation with regard to what I consider unimportant details: age, location, occupation, etc..."
He later commented on his Misplaced Pages user page about having fooled Schiff by "doing a good job playing the part."
Social activist and Misplaced Pages critic Daniel Brandt then reported the identity discrepancy to The New Yorker. In late February 2007 The New Yorker updated its article with a correction indicating that Essjay had subsequently identified himself as Ryan Jordan and further stated, "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."
On 3 March 2007, Andrew Lih, Assistant Professor and Director of Technology Journalism and of the Media Studies Centre at the University of Hong Kong, said on his blog that a portion of Essjay's comments on the incident entered "the dangerous domain of defamation and libel" against Stacy Schiff, the reporter for The New Yorker. Lih quoted Essjay as writing on his Misplaced Pages talk page: "Further, she made several offers to compensate me for my time, and my response was that if she truly felt the need to do so, she should donate to the Foundation instead." Lih noted:
This is an accusation of the highest degree to make about a journalist. Paying a source for a story is an absolute no-no in the normal practice of print journalism. And it struck me immediately how incredible it was he would accuse Stacy Schiff, a Pulitzer Prize winning author writing for The New Yorker, of this crime. We either have a serious breach of ethics with Ms. Schiff or another dubious statement claim from Essjay.
Lih wrote that he contacted Schiff for comment about whether she had offered to pay Essjay for his time, and quoted her return email. In it Schiff stated that Essjay's assertion was "complete nonsense."
Reaction
Misplaced Pages community
Speaking personally about Jordan, Wales said, “Mr. Ryan [sic] 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 had responded at the time with a statement on his Misplaced Pages page, in part reading:
…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 [sic] support known as well…
Reaction from within the Misplaced Pages community to the Essjay/Jordan identity discrepancy was sharp, voluminous, and mixed. While most editors denounced at least some of his actions, responses ranged from offering complete support to accusing Jordan of fraud.
As the controversy unfolded the Misplaced Pages community began a review of Essjay's previous edits and some felt 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." For instance, Essjay had recommended sources such as Catholicism for Dummies, a book granted the nihil obstat and imprimatur by the Roman Catholic Church. Essjay defended his use of the book by telling fellow Misplaced Pages editors in a disagreement over the editing of the article Imprimatur: "This is a text I often require for my students, and I would hang my own Ph.D. on it’s [sic] credibility."
Wales was "...reported to be considering vetting all persons who adjudicate on factual disputes." "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 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 that “It's always inappropriate to try to win an argument by flashing your credentials, and even more so if those credentials are inaccurate.” Wales argued "contributors to the site who claim certain credentials will soon have to prove they really have them." However, Florence Devouard, chair of the Wikimedia Foundation, was not supportive of his credential proposal, saying, "I think what matters is the quality of the content, which we can improve by enforcing policies such as 'cite your source,' not the quality of credentials showed by an editor." A formal proposal that users claiming to have academic qualifications would have to provide evidence before citing them in content disputes was eventually rejected by the Misplaced Pages community, like all previous such proposals. Vigorous debate over how to improve Misplaced Pages continued.
As a follow up to his initial comments to The New Yorker, Wales wrote this apology to the magazine, which appeared in its March 19, 2007 issue:
I am writing to apologize to The New Yorker and Stacy Schiff, and to give some follow-up concerning Ryan Jordan (Editors' Note, March 5). When I last spoke to The New Yorker about the fact that a prominent Misplaced Pages community member had lied about his credentials, I misjudged the issue. It was not O.K. for Mr. Jordan, or Essjay, to lie to a reporter, even to protect his identity.
Wales expressed his regret that Essjay had "made a series of very bad judgments." He also commented that he hoped Misplaced Pages would improve as a result of the controversy.
Misplaced Pages critics
Writer for The Register and Misplaced Pages critic Andrew Orlowski criticized Jimmy Wales for hiring Essjay at the venture-capital-funded 'Wikia', and for appointing him to the Misplaced Pages arbitration committee after Essjay had apparently admitted his previously claimed academic and professional credentials were false. Orlowski added that Essjay's actions betrayed a dangerous community mindset within Misplaced Pages, quoting Larry Sanger as saying, "Wikipedians have plainly become a very insular group: they have their own mores and requirements, which are completely independent of the real world. Indeed, that's what this story is about, after all: real-world identities and credentials are rejected as unnecessary by Misplaced Pages." Others to comment adversely included ZDNet writer Mitch Ratcliffe, who asked "why lying about one's background qualifies a person to work for a company like Wikia, which proposes to help communities to record accurate information" and asked for additional details "such as when he fired Jordan and the reasons for the firing, as well as when he endorsed Jordan in public statements."
Larry Sanger, editor-in-chief of online encyclopedia Citizendium, and a co-founder of Misplaced Pages who left the project in 2002, called Essjay's response "a defiant non-apology" and elsewhere characterized Essjay's actions as "identity fraud." Citing comments by Essjay on his Misplaced Pages talk pages, Sanger asserted that other members of Misplaced Pages management, including Angela Beesley (co-founder of Wikia and a member of Wikimedia Foundation's Communications Committee) and Brad Patrick (legal counsel for the Wikimedia Foundation) had participated in hiring Jordan despite their knowledge of the identity discrepancy. Sanger also implied that Jordan's firing was purely the result of public outcry, and that "Only after these sad facts were publicly exposed, only after there was a hue and cry, did Jimmy Wales decide to ask for Essjay’s resignation."
Other comments:
- Seth Finkelstein (Internet activist) asserted that Misplaced Pages "fundamentally runs by an extremely deceptive sort of social promise" to its editors — that they will gain academic prestige by contributing to an on-line encyclopedia. Finkelstein said Essjay was a product of that deceptive system, and was "that dream’s poster child."
- BusinessWeek commented on proposals for credential verification: "Sadly, not everyone who posts to Misplaced Pages is concerned with the Ten Commandments. Some are concerned with revenge. Some with self-aggrandizement. Some just have nothing better to do. We live in an age of fake IDs, fake money, fake e-mails, fake URLs, fake IP addresses, and fake votes..." However, the article argued that Misplaced Pages could not become a "net police" of reliability on the Internet.
- Steve Maich (journalist, Maclean's) stated that the controversy could damage Misplaced Pages's future as a media business operation, observing that Misplaced Pages's model was supposedly built upon trust and credibility.
- ITworld commented on Misplaced Pages contributors: "Legitimate writers, scholars and industry experts have very little motivation to contribute to Misplaced Pages—leaving the project with wannabes and posers like Essjay with too much time on their hands to churn out content."
- Andrew Keen (author, Cult of the Amateur) described the controversy as an example of ignoring expert guidance in favor of the "dictatorship of idiots."
- L. Brent Bozell III (president, Media Research Center) commented that "off-setting and off-putting material" can be added to Misplaced Pages to create "intellectual mischief." He called the Essjay controversy "enough to make used-car salesmen cringe."
- Alex Beam (columnist, Boston Globe) criticized the Essjay affair as being part of what he characterizes as the problems of "crowdsourcing" and the "wisdom of crowds," stating also that the crowd accepts authority unquestioningly: "Who would you rather have write your encyclopedia entries? Bertrand Russell, T.H. Huxley, and Benedetto Croce, who wrote for the Britannica? Or ... EssJay?"
- Cassandra Jardine (columnist, The Daily Telegraph) opined that Essjay was "hooked on 'Wiki crack' — devotees' jargon for the thrill of seeing your efforts debated." She further observed that "Essjay has provided a reminder that any given entry could have been written by someone as ignorant as ourselves. On the other hand, no one has taken issue with his edits, only his assumed persona, so perhaps the real lesson of this democratic medium is that college drop-outs might be as authoritative as professors."
Academics
Following the media coverage of the Essjay controversy, a number of academics noted the damage to the credibility of Misplaced Pages. On March 2, 2007, a report in The Chronicle of Higher Education commented "the incident is clearly damaging to Misplaced Pages'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." Ross Brann, a professor of Judeo-Islamic studies at Cornell University in Ithaca, stated that Misplaced Pages lacks a process of scholarly review, saying, "They could make up your life if they wanted to." Brann also said that Misplaced Pages "has no place in the University," and he believed the Essjay incident would do nothing to change the unfavorable opinion that academics generally hold about the online encyclopedia. Several students interviewed at Cornell indicated that they would continue to use Misplaced Pages as a quick source of information, though they would not cite it in scholarly work.
Nicola Pratt, a lecturer in international relations at the University of East Anglia in England stated, "The ethos of Misplaced Pages is that anyone can contribute, regardless of status… What's relevant is their knowledge as judged by other readers, not whether they are professors or not – and the fact the student was exposed shows it works."
See also
Notes
- ^ A public viewable version of this claim as dated 2006 is visible on the Internet Archive "Archived copy of Essjay's Misplaced Pages user page". The Internet Archive. Retrieved 2007-10-18.. (Please note that if you click on the above link and you have an IRC client installed on your computer, either your client will open, or, if you already have your IRC client open, new tabs/channels will be opened.)
- ^ Ian King, "'A Wiki web they've woven'". vancouver.24hrs.ca. Retrieved 2007-03-02.
- ^ "Profiles do not mesh..." Essjay Misplaced Pages talk page. 2007-02-02. Retrieved 2007-07-26.
- Jimmy Wales (2007-10-17). "ArbCom". WikiEN-l. Retrieved 2007-10-23.
- Nicholas Carr (2007-02-27). "Essjay disrobed". Rough Type. Retrieved 2007-07-26.
- Jeff Bercovici (2007-02-28). "Ode to Misplaced Pages Riddled with Errors". Radar. Retrieved 2007-07-26.
- ^ Cohen, Noam. "Misplaced Pages ire turns against ex-editor", International Herald Tribune, March 6, 2007
- ^ Wolfson, Andrew. "Misplaced Pages editor who posed as professor is Ky. dropout", The Courier-Journal, March 6, 2007 Cite error: The named reference "louisville" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
- ^ Bergstein, Brian (March 7 2007). "After flap over phony professor, Misplaced Pages wants some writers to share real names". Associated Press.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ "ABC News broadcast on Essjay". Retrieved 2007-03-08.
- ^ Wales, Jimmy (2007-03-19), "Making amends", The New Yorker, p. 24
{{citation}}: Check date values in:|date=(help)CS1 maint: date and year (link). - ^ Schiff, Stacey. "Know it all: Can Misplaced Pages conquer expertise?", The New Yorker, July 24, 2006.
- ^ Cohen, Noam. "After False Claim, Misplaced Pages to Check Degrees", The New York Times, March 12, 2007.
- ^ Finkelstein, Seth. "Read me first", The Guardian, March 8, 2007. Cite error: The named reference "Guardian" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
- Peter Meyers (September 20, 2001). "Fact-Driven? Collegial? This Site Wants You". The New York Times. Retrieved 2007-11-05.
- ^ Ratcliffe, Mitch (March 5, 2007), Misplaced Pages: Why does Essjay need to "protect himself"?, Zdnet.com. Retrieved March 7, 2007.
- Jimmy Wales (2007-03-03). "EssJay situation". WikiEN-l. Retrieved 2007-10-01.
- "User:Essjay/Letter". WebCite. Retrieved 2007-11-17.
- ^ Williams, Martyn (2007-03-09). "Misplaced Pages Founder Addresses User Credentials". PC World. Retrieved 2007-03-09.
- Zaharov-Reutt, Alex. "Misplaced Pages: did one of its admins lie?", March 2, 2007, retrieved March 6, 2007.
- 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) - Elsworth, Catherine (March 8, 2007). "Misplaced Pages 'expert' admits: I made it up". The Age. Retrieved 2007-03-16.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - "Fake professor in Misplaced Pages storm". BBC News. March 6, 2007. Retrieved 2007-03-16.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - Michael Snow (2007-03-05). "New Yorker correction dogs arbitrator into departure". Misplaced Pages Signpost. Retrieved 2007-04-29.
- "Andrew Lih". Hong Kong University. Retrieved 2007-11-05.
- Andrew Lih (2007-11-05). "Essjay's Third Transgression". Retrieved 2007-10-01.
- ^ Doran, James (March 6, 2007). "Misplaced Pages chief promises change after 'expert' exposed as fraud". Tech & Web. The Times. Retrieved 2007-03-18.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - Keen, Andrew (March 7, 2007). "Laughter and forgetting on Misplaced Pages". ZDNet. Retrieved 2007-03-13.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ 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) - 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) - "Catholicism for Dummies". GetFed.com. Retrieved 2007-07-25.
- "Talk:Imprimatur". Misplaced Pages. 2005-04-12. Retrieved 2007-08-28.
- Staff (March 7 2007). "Misplaced Pages's 'bogus' editor ousted". Freelance UK.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - "Misplaced Pages:Credentials". Misplaced Pages. Retrieved 2007-07-26.
- ^ Orlowski, Andrew (March 2, 2007). "Bogus Misplaced Pages Prof. was blessed then promoted". Music and Media. The Register. Retrieved 2007-03-18.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - Bergstein, Brian (March 25, 2007). "Citizendium aims to be better Misplaced Pages". USA Today. Retrieved 2007-03-25.
- Bergstein, Brian (March 25, 2007). "Sanger says he co-started Misplaced Pages". ABC News. Associated Press. Retrieved 2007-03-26.
- "More than just a war of words". The Sydney Morning Herald. April 21, 2007. Retrieved 2007-04-23.
- Orlowski, Andrew (March 6, 2007). "Farewell, Misplaced Pages?". Music and Media. The Register. Retrieved 2007-03-18.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - "Resolution creation communications committee". Wikimedia Foundation. 2006-09-26. Retrieved 2007-10-01.
- "Foundation hires Brad Patrick as general counsel and interim executive director". Misplaced Pages Signpost. 2006-06-19. Retrieved 2007-10-01.
{{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - Larry Sanger (2007-03-05). "One last, brief comment on the Essjay scandal". Citizendium Blog. Retrieved 2007-10-01.
- Finkelstein, Seth (March 1, 2007). "What The New Yorker Article Fraud Tells Us About Misplaced Pages". Infothought. Seth Finkelstein. Retrieved 2007-03-18.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - B.L.Ochman (2007-03-22). "Misplaced Pages's Not the Net Police". BusinessWeek. Retrieved 2007-09-29.
{{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - Steve Maich (2007-03-19). "Misplaced Pages's trouble with the truth". Maclean's. Retrieved 2007-10-01.
{{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - Blacharski, Dan (March 6, 2007). "Blog Insights: Misplaced Pages's great fraud". ITworld.com. Retrieved 2007-03-18.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - Levy, Steven (March 26, 2007). "Invasion of the web amateurs". Newsweek. p. 16.
{{cite news}}:|section=ignored (help) - Bozell III, L. Brent (March 21, 2007). "Not Your Father's Encyclopedia". CNSNews.com. Retrieved 2007-09-29.
- Beam, Alex (March 12, 2007). "Tricky truths behind Misplaced Pages". Boston Globe. p. E5. Retrieved 2007-09-29.
{{cite news}}:|section=ignored (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - Jardine, Cassandra (March 8, 2007). "Fount of all wisdom – and foolery". The Daily Telegraph. p. 21. Retrieved 2007-09-29.
{{cite news}}:|section=ignored (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - Read, Brock (March 2 2007). "Essjay, the Ersatz Academic". The Chronicle of Higher Education.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - Albanes, John (March 15, 2007). "Misplaced Pages Stays Popular Despite False Sources". The Cornell Daily Sun. Retrieved 2007-03-18.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - MacLeod, Donald (March 7, 2007). "Students marked on writing in Misplaced Pages". The Guardian. Retrieved 2007-03-18.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=(help); Text "E-Learning" ignored (help); Text "EducationGuardian.co.uk" ignored (help)
References
- Claburn, Thomas (March 8, 2007). "Misplaced Pages Mulls Proof Of Credentials". InformationWeek. Retrieved 2007-03-18.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - Sadofsky, Jason Scott (2007-03-01). "ASCII by Jason Scott: Misplaced Pages: J.S. on Essjay". Retrieved 2007-09-08.
External links
