Essjay controversy

The Essjay controversy was an incident in which Ryan Jordan, a Wikipedia editor who went by the username "Essjay", falsely presented himself as a university professor of religion from 2005 to 2007, during which time he was elected to top positions of trust by the community, including administrator and arbitrator. In July 2006, ''The New Yorker'' published an article about "Essjay", and mentioned that he was a university professor of religion. ''The New Yorker'' later acknowledged that they did not know his real name. The controversy came to involve Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales who, after initially defending Jordan, eventually asked for his resignation in March 2007. Jordan was eventually shown to have lied about his credentials, which he occasionally used as an argument to gain an upper hand in some discussions. The incident led to a critique of anonymity on Wikipedia, and a distrust of self-professed, anonymous experts among the Wikipedia community.

Overview

On July 26, 2006, Wikipedia critic Daniel Brandt started a thread on the unaffiliated discussion site Wikipedia Review titled "Who is Essjay?" (later retitled "Who is Essjay?, Probably he's Ryan Jordan" after Jordan's self-disclosure). Essjay had stated on his Wikipedia user page that he taught graduate theology at a private university, and had doctorates in theology and canon law. The ensuing discussion brought to light contradictions in Essjay's claims about his academic qualifications and professional experiences.

Five days later, ''The New Yorker'' published an interview with Essjay which repeated some of the false claims on his user page.Schiff, Stacy
"Know it all: Can Wikipedia conquer expertise?"
, ''The New Yorker'', July 31, 2006.

In January 2007, Brandt contacted the author of the article in ''The New Yorker'' about the discrepancies in Jordan's biography and the exploitation of his supposed qualifications as leverage in internal disputes over Wikipedia content.

The controversy that ensued focused on his falsification of a persona and qualifications, the impact of this deception on perceptions of Wikipedia (and its policies and credibility), and the quality of decisions made in his promotion, support, and employment.Ian King, Cohen, Noam

, ''The New York Times'', March 12, 2007.Finkelstein, Seth

, ''The Guardian'', March 8, 2007.

Reactions to the disclosure were diverse, encompassing commentary and articles in electronic, print, and broadcast media. The Wikipedia community researched Essjay's article edits to check for errors, and debated proposals to improve the project's handling of personal identification. During this time, Jordan spent less time editing the content of articles and more time addressing vandalism and resolving editorial disputes.

Wikipedia 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."Ratcliffe, Mitch (March 5, 2007)
Wikipedia: Why does Essjay need to "protect himself"?
, Zdnet.com. Retrieved March 7, 2007. Later, around March 5, 2007, Wales withdrew his support and asked for Essjay's resignation from his positions with Wikipedia and Wikia. Wales stated that he withdrew his support when he learned that "Essjay used his false credentials in content disputes" on Wikipedia.

''The New Yorker'' interview

Stacy Schiff, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist writing for ''The New Yorker'', interviewed Essjay as a source for an article about Wikipedia ("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 Wikipedia 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 Wikipedia user page that he held doctoral degrees in theology and canon law and worked as a tenured professor at a private university.A public viewable version of this claim as dated 2006 is visible on the Internet Archive . 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.

The article said that Essjay spent some 14 hours or more a day on Wikipedia but was careful to keep his online life a secret from his colleagues and friends. It portrayed Essjay 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.

Jordan, as Essjay, claimed he sent an email to a college professor using his invented persona's credentials, vouching for Wikipedia's accuracy. In the message he wrote in part, "I am an administrator of the online encyclopedia project Wikipedia. I am also a tenured professor of theology; feel free to have a look at my Wikipedia user page (linked below) to gain an idea of my background and credentials."

Identity revealed

When Essjay was hired by Wikia in January 2007, he changed his Wikia profile and "came clean on who he really was", identifying himself as Ryan Jordan. Other Wikipedia editors questioned Essjay on his Wikipedia 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:

He later commented on his Wikipedia user page about having fooled Schiff by "... doing a good job playing the part."

Wikipedia critic Daniel Brandt then wrote a letter reporting the identity discrepancy to Stacy Schiff and ''The New Yorker''. In late February 2007, the magazine updated its article with a correction indicating that "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 February 23, 2007, Jimmy Wales announced the appointment of Essjay to Wikipedia's Arbitration Committee. Wales later asserted that the appointment was "at the request of and unanimous support of" the Arbitration Committee.

On March 3, 2007, Andrew Lih

HOME


Content is Copyleft
Website design, code, and AI is Copyrighted (c) 2014-2017 by Stephen Payne


Consider donating to Wikimedia



As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases