Regret the Error

The latest issue of the New Yorker contains an editor’s note that details how the magazine was fooled by a Wikipedia volunteer. Its July 31, 2006 piece about Wikipedia included information about a volunteer contributor who goes by the screen name Essjay. It read, "One regular on the site is a user known as Essjay, who holds a Ph.D. in
theology and a degree in canon law and has written or contributed to
sixteen thousand entries. A tenured professor of religion at a private
university…" Well, no. Looks like Essjay was using the cloak of pseudonymity to fluff up his resume. As the editor’s note explains that, "…his real name is Ryan Jordan, that he is
twenty-four and holds no advanced degrees, and that he has never
taught." The problem here is that the magazine should have hedged its declarative description of him in the article, especially since he refused to provide his real name for confirmation. the addition of a "claims to be" and an explanation about his unknown real identity could have helped the situation. The editor’s note is below, and you can go here to see the New Yorker cartoon that inspired the headline of this post:

The July 31, 2006, piece on Wikipedia, “Know It All,” by Stacy
Schiff, contained an interview with a Wikipedia site administrator and
contributor called Essjay, whose responsibilities included handling
disagreements about the accuracy of the site’s articles and taking
action against users who violate site policy. 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
was recommended to Ms. Schiff as a source by a member of Wikipedia’s
management team because of his respected position within the Wikipedia
community. He 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. At the time of
publication, neither we nor Wikipedia knew Essjay’s real name. Essjay’s
entire Wikipedia life was conducted with only a user name; anonymity is
common for Wikipedia admin-istrators and contributors, and he says that
he feared personal retribution from those he had ruled against online.
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. He was recently hired by Wikia—a for-profit company affiliated
with Wikipedia—as a “community manager”; he continues to hold his
Wikipedia positions. He did not answer a message we sent to him; Jimmy
Wales, the co-founder of Wikia and of Wikipedia, said of Essjay’s
invented persona, “I regard it as a pseudonym and I don’t really have a
problem with it.”

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