Bogus professor quits Wikipedia

Stephen Withers
Wednesday, 07 March 2007 04:49

Your IT - Home IT

"I have asked EssJay to resign his positions of trust within the community. In terms of the full parameters of what happens next, I advise (as usual) that we take a calm, loving, and reasonable approach. From the moment this whole thing became known, EssJay has been contrite and apologetic," wrote Wales.

The issue is not whether it is wrong to create a false persona in order to participate in projects such as Wikipedia. There are several good reasons why a contributor may prefer anonymity. The problems stem from Jordan's claim of non-existent credentials to bolster his authority in a particular area, and misrepresenting himself to the media.

In his defence regarding that second point, Jordan claimed "It was, quite honestly, my impression that it was well known that I was not who I claimed to be, and that in the absence of any confirmation, no respectable publication would print it."

As far as we are aware, nobody is questioning the quality of Jordan's work on Wikipedia. But Wikipedia relies heavily on trust, and once that trust was broken he had to go.

Jordan resigned from his paid position with Wikia Inc and retired from his volunteer work on Wikipedia.

Essjay's user page has been replaced with the single line: "Essjay was a member of the Wikia staff from January to March 2007."