Bogus professor quits Wikipedia

Stephen Withers
Wednesday, 07 March 2007 04:49

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A 24 year old with no advanced degrees who posed as a professor of religion while working on Wikipedia's arbitration committee has resigned at the request of Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales.

Ryan Jordan, who used the pseudonym Essjay, is thought to have contributed to as many as 20,000 Wikipedia entries. He had presented himself as a professor at a private university with a PhD in theology and a degree in canon law.

The arbitration committee is the 'court of last resort' for settling Wikipedia disputes. There are currently 12 active members, several of which use pseudonyms. A simple majority of active members can rule on an issue, and their decision can be overruled only by Wales.

Such disputes usually involve disagreements between authors.

The issue blew up when someone told the New Yorker magazine - which in mid-2006 published a lengthy article on Wikipedia that mentioned Essjay's work - that the biographical information was phoney. The magazine recently published a retraction. The journalist concerned and the editorial staff had taken Essjay's resume at face value.

(This, it must be said, is common practice. When individuals or organisations make statements about themselves, it is usual to treat them as definitive sources unless there are reasons to consider them unreliable.)

Who said what?