Essjay controversy

The Essjay controversy related to a prominent Wikipedia 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 Wikipedia user page and to journalist Stacy Schiff during an interview for "The New Yorker",Schiff, Stacey. [http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/articles/060731fa_fact "Know it all: Can Wikipedia conquer expertise?"] , "The New Yorker", July 24, 2006.] Cohen, Noam. [http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/12/technology/12wiki.html?ex=1331352000&en=668e67bce73bf6c6&ei=5089&partner=rssyahoo&emc=rss "After False Claim, Wikipedia to Check Degrees"] , "The New York Times", March 12, 2007.] Finkelstein, Seth. [http://technology.guardian.co.uk/weekly/story/0,,2028328,00.html "Read me first"] , "The Guardian", March 8, 2007.] and to have exploited his supposed qualifications as leverage in internal disputes over Wikipedia content. The issues highlighted within the controversy included his falsifying 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.

Reactions to the disclosure were diverse, encompassing commentary and articles in the 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. 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.

Wikipedia co-foundercite news|author=Peter Meyers|title=Fact-Driven? Collegial? This Site Wants You|url=http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9800E5D6123BF933A1575AC0A9679C8B63&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=print|publisher=The New York Times|date=September 20, 2001|accessdate=2007-11-05] 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), [http://blogs.zdnet.com/Ratcliffe/?p=271 Wikipedia: Why does Essjay need to "protect himself"?] , Zdnet.com. Retrieved March 7, 2007.] Later Wales withdrew his support and asked for Essjay's resignation from his positions with Wikipedia and Wikia.Cohen, Noam. [http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/03/06/business/wiki.php "Wikipedia ire turns against ex-editor"] , "International Herald Tribune", March 6, 2007] Wales stated that he withdrew his support when he learned "that EssJaysic used his false credentials in content disputes" on Wikipedia. [cite web|url=http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikien-l/2007-March/064440.html|title=EssJay situation|date=2007-03-03|author=Jimmy Wales|publisher=WikiEN-l|accessdate=2007-10-01]

"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 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. It was later discovered that he was 24 years old, and had dropped out of community college with no qualifications. cite web
url = http://www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070306/NEWS01/703060446/1008
title = Wikipedia editor who posed as professor is Ky. dropout
accessdate = 2007-03-06
last = Wolfson
first = Andrew
date = March 6, 2007
work = Local News
publisher = The Courier-Journal
archiveurl = http://www.kctcs.net/todaysnews/index.cfm?tn_date=2007-03-06#9315
archivedate = 2007-05-17] "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 Wikipedia 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 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 userpage (linked below) to gain an idea of my background and credentials."cite web|url=http://www.webcitation.org/5N2MZaMWP|title=User:Essjay/Letter|publisher=WebCite|accessdate=2007-11-17]

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.Zaharov-Reutt, Alex. [http://www.itwire.com.au/content/view/10092/53/ "Wikipedia: did one of its admins lie?"] , March 2, 2007, retrieved March 6, 2007.] cite web
url = http://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=2928756
title = Wikiscandal: A Prominent Editor at the Popular Online Encyclopedia Is a Fraud
accessdate = 2007-03-06
last = Goldman
first = Russell
date = March 6 2007
publisher = ABC News
archiveurl =
archivedate =
quote =] cite news
first = Catherine
last = Elsworth
title = Wikipedia 'expert' admits: I made it up
url = http://www.theage.com.au/news/world/wikipedia-expert-admits-i-made-it-up/2007/03/07/1173166800182.html
work = The Age
date = March 8, 2007
accessdate = 2007-03-16] cite news
title = Fake professor in Wikipedia storm
url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6423659.stm
work = BBC News
date = March 6, 2007
accessdate = 2007-03-16] Other Wikipedia editors questioned Essjay on his Wikipedia talk page about the apparent discrepancy between his new Wikia profile and his previously claimed credentials. [cite web|url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/2007-03-05/Essjay|title=New Yorker correction dogs arbitrator into departure|author=Michael Snow|publisher=Wikipedia Signpost|date=2007-03-05|accessdate=2007-04-29] 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."cite web
url = http://technology.guardian.co.uk/weekly/story/0,,2028328,00.html
title = Read me first
accessdate = 2007-08-01
last = Finkelstein
first = Seth
date = March 8, 2007
work = Technology
publisher = The Guardian
archiveurl =
archivedate=]

Social activist and Wikipedia 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,Cite web|url=http://jmsc.hku.hk/faculty/alih/|title=Andrew Lih|accessdate=2007-11-05|publisher=Hong Kong University] 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 Wikipedia talk page: "Further, she [Schiff] 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:

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."Cite web|url=http://www.andrewlih.com/blog/2007/03/03/essjays-third-transgression/|title=Essjay's Third Transgression|accessdate=2007-10-01|date=2007-11-05|author=Andrew Lih]

Reaction

Wikipedia community

Speaking personally about Jordan, Wales said, “Mr. Ryansic 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.”cite web
url = http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/article1480012.ece
title = Wikipedia chief promises change after ‘expert’ exposed as fraud
accessdate = 2007-03-18
last = Doran
first = James
date = March 6, 2007
work = Tech & Web
publisher = The Times]

Essjay had responded at the time with a statement on his Wikipedia page, in part reading:

quote|…I *am* sorry if anyone in the Wikipedia 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 Wikipedia's hierarchy have made thiersic support known as well…cite web
url = http://blogs.zdnet.com/keen/?p=108%20Laughter%20and%20forgetting%20on%20Wikipedia
title = Laughter and forgetting on Wikipedia
accessdate = 2007-03-13
last = Keen
first = Andrew
authorlink = Andrew Keen
date = March 7, 2007
work =
publisher = ZDNet
archiveurl =
archivedate =
quote =]

Reaction from within the Wikipedia 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.cite web
url = http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/05/technology/05wikipedia.html?pagewanted=1&ei=5090&en=f79cc41f899c2de6&ex=1330750800&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss
title = A Contributor to Wikipedia Has His Fictional Side
accessdate = 2007-03-06
last = Cohen
first = Noam
date = March 5 2007
work = Technology
publisher = The New York Times
archiveurl =
archivedate =]

As the controversy unfolded the Wikipedia 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 Wikipedia administrator and founder of the Wikipedia community newspaper, "The Wikipedia Signpost". "Those will get looked at again." For instance, Essjay had recommended sources such as "Catholicism for Dummies,"cite book | author= Trigilio, John | coauthors = Brighenti, Kenneth | title = Catholicism for Dummies | date = 2003-04-28 | publisher = Wiley Publishing | location = Indianapolis, IN | isbn = 0-7645-5391-7] a book granted the nihil obstat and imprimatur by the Roman Catholic Church. [cite web|url=http://www.getfed.com/product_detail.cfm?ID=3837|title="Catholicism for Dummies"|publisher=GetFed.com|accessdate=2007-07-25] Essjay defended his use of the book by telling fellow Wikipedia 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." [cite web|url=http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Talk%3AImprimatur&diff=12614544&oldid=12191093
title=Talk:Imprimatur|publisher=Wikipedia|date=2005-04-12|accessdate=2007-08-28]

Wales was "...reported to be considering vetting all persons who adjudicate on factual disputes."cite news |title= Wikipedia's 'bogus' editor ousted |url= http://www.freelanceuk.com/news/2163.shtml |publisher=Freelance UK|first= |last= Staff|date= March 7 2007] "I don't think this incident exposes any inherent weakness in Wikipedia, but it does expose a weakness that we will be working to address," Wales added. He insisted that Wikipedia 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.”cite news |title= After flap over phony professor, Wikipedia wants some writers to share real names |url= http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2007-03-07-wikipedia-credentials_N.htm |publisher=Associated Press|first=Brian |last=Bergstein|date= March 7 2007] Wales argued "contributors to the site who claim certain credentials will soon have to prove they really have them."cite news|url=http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,129702-c,webservices/article.html|title=Wikipedia Founder Addresses User Credentials|last=Williams|first=Martyn|date=2007-03-09|publisher=PC World|accessdate=2007-03-09] 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 Wikipedia community,cite web|url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Credentials|title= Wikipedia:Credentials|publisher=Wikipedia|accessdate=2007-07-26] like all previous such proposals. Vigorous debate over how to improve Wikipedia continued.Cohen, Noam. [http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/12/technology/12wiki.html?ex=1331352000&en=668e67bce73bf6c6&ei=5089&partner=rssyahoo&emc=rss "After False Claim, Wikipedia to Check Degrees"] , "The New York Times", March 12, 2007.]

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:

Wales expressed his regret that Essjay had "made a series of very bad judgments." He also commented that he hoped Wikipedia would improve as a result of the controversy.

Wikipedia critics

Writer for "The Register" and Wikipedia critic Andrew Orlowski criticized Jimmy Wales for hiring Essjay at the venture-capital-funded 'Wikia', and for appointing him to the Wikipedia 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 Wikipedia, 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 Wikipedia." 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,cite news
first=Brian
last=Bergstein
title=Citizendium aims to be better Wikipedia
url=http://www.usatoday.com/tech/webguide/2007-03-25-wikipedia-alternative_N.htm
publisher=USA Today
date=March 25, 2007
accessdate=2007-03-25] and a co-founder of Wikipedia who left the project in 2002,cite news
first=Brian
last=Bergstein
title=Sanger says he co-started Wikipedia
url=http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory?id=2980046
work=ABC News
publisher=Associated Press
date=March 25, 2007
accessdate=2007-03-26] cite news
first =
last =
authorlink =
title = More than just a war of words
url = http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/not-just-a-war-of-words/2007/04/21/1176697134712.html
work =
publisher = The Sydney Morning Herald
pages =
date = April 21, 2007
accessdate = 2007-04-23] called Essjay's response "a defiant non-apology"cite web
url = http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/03/06/wikipedia_crisis/
title = Farewell, Wikipedia?
accessdate = 2007-03-18
last = Orlowski
first = Andrew
authorlink = Andrew Orlowski
date = March 6, 2007
work = Music and Media
publisher = The Register
archiveurl =
archivedate =] and elsewhere characterized Essjay's actions as "identity fraud."cite web
url = http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/03/02/wikipedia_fraud/
title = Bogus Wikipedia Prof. was blessed then promoted
accessdate = 2007-03-18
last = Orlowski
first = Andrew
authorlink = Andrew Orlowski
date = March 2, 2007
work = Music and Media
publisher = The Register
archiveurl =
archivedate =] Citing comments by Essjay on his Wikipedia talk pages, Sanger asserted that other members of Wikipedia management, including Angela Beesley (co-founder of Wikia and a member of Wikimedia Foundation's Communications Committee [cite web|url=http://wikimediafoundation.org/w/index.php?title=Resolution_creation_communications_committee&oldid=15617|title=Resolution creation communications committee|publisher=Wikimedia Foundation|date=2006-09-26|accessdate=2007-10-01] ) and Brad Patrick (legal counsel for the Wikimedia Foundation [cite web|url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/2006-06-19/Brad_Patrick|title=Foundation hires Brad Patrick as general counsel and interim executive director|publisher="Wikipedia Signpost"|date=2006-06-19|accessdate=2007-10-01] ) 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." [cite web|url=http://blog.citizendium.org/2007/03/05/one-last-brief-comment-on-the-essjay-scandal/|title=One last, brief comment on the Essjay scandal|date=2007-03-05|author=Larry Sanger|publisher=Citizendium Blog|accessdate=2007-10-01]

Other comments:

:* Seth Finkelstein (Internet activist) asserted that Wikipedia "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,cite web
url = http://sethf.com/infothought/blog/archives/001157.html
title = What The New Yorker Article Fraud Tells Us About Wikipedia
accessdate = 2007-03-18
last = Finkelstein
first = Seth
date = March 1, 2007
work = Infothought
publisher = Seth Finkelstein
archiveurl =
archivedate =] and was "that dream’s poster child."

:* "BusinessWeek" commented on : "Sadly, not everyone who posts to Wikipedia 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 Wikipedia could not become a "net police" of reliability on the Internet. [cite web|url=http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/mar2007/tc20070321_174505.htm?chan=search|title=Wikipedia's Not the Net Police|author=B.L.Ochman|publisher="BusinessWeek"|date=2007-03-22|accessdate=2007-09-29]

:* Steve Maich (journalist, "Maclean's") stated that the controversy could damage Wikipedia's future as a media business operation, observing that Wikipedia's model was supposedly built upon trust and credibility. [cite web|url=http://www.macleans.ca/article.jsp?content=20070319_103212_103212&source=srch|title=Wikipedia's trouble with the truth|date=2007-03-19|author=Steve Maich|publisher="Maclean's"|accessdate=2007-10-01]

:* "ITworld" commented on Wikipedia contributors: "Legitimate writers, scholars and industry experts have very little motivation to contribute to Wikipedia—leaving the project with wannabes and posers like Essjay with too much time on their hands to churn out content."cite web
url = http://www.itworld.com/Tech/2987/nlsblog070306/
title = Blog Insights: Wikipedia's great fraud
accessdate = 2007-03-18
last = Blacharski
first = Dan
date = March 6, 2007
publisher = ITworld.com
archiveurl =
archivedate =]

:* Andrew Keen (author, "Cult of the Amateur") described the controversy as an example of ignoring expert guidance in favor of the "dictatorship of idiots."cite news
first=Steven
last=Levy
title=Invasion of the web amateurs
url=http://www.newsweek.com/id/36171
publisher=Newsweek
section=The Technologist
date=March 26, 2007
accessdate=
page=16
quote =]

:* L. Brent Bozell III (president, Media Research Center) commented that "off-setting and off-putting material" can be added to Wikipedia to create "intellectual mischief." He called the Essjay controversy "enough to make used-car salesmen cringe."cite news
first=L. Brent
last=Bozell III
title=Not Your Father's Encyclopedia
url=http://www.cnsnews.com/bozellcolumn/archive/2007/col20070321.asp
publisher=CNSNews.com
section=
date=March 21, 2007
accessdate=2007-09-29
page=
quote =]

:* 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?"cite news
first=Alex
last=Beam
title=Tricky truths behind Wikipedia
url=http://www.boston.com/news/globe/living/articles/2007/03/12/tricky_truths_behind_wikipedia/
publisher="Boston Globe"
section=LivingGarts
date=March 12, 2007
accessdate=2007-09-29
page=E5
quote =]

:* 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."cite news
first=Cassandra
last=Jardine
title=Fount of all wisdom – and foolery
url=http://www.telegraph.co.uk/portal/main.jhtml?xml=%2Fportal%2F2007%2F03%2F08%2Fnosplit%2Fftwiki108.xml
publisher="The Daily Telegraph"
section= Features
date=March 8, 2007
accessdate=2007-09-29
page=21
quote =]

Academics

Following the media coverage of the Essjay controversy, a number of academics noted the damage to the credibility of Wikipedia. On March 2, 2007, a report in "The Chronicle of Higher Education" commented "the incident is clearly damaging to Wikipedia'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." [cite news |title= Essjay, the Ersatz Academic|url=http://chronicle.com/wiredcampus/index.php?id=1909 |publisher= The Chronicle of Higher Education|date= March 2 2007|last=Read|first=Brock] Ross Brann, a professor of Judeo-Islamic studies at Cornell University in Ithaca, stated that Wikipedia lacks a process of scholarly review, saying, "They could make up your life if they wanted to." Brann also said that Wikipedia "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 Wikipedia as a quick source of information, though they would not cite it in scholarly work.cite web
url = http://www.cornellsun.com/node/22155
title = Wikipedia Stays Popular Despite False Sources
accessdate = 2007-03-18
last = Albanes
first = John
date = March 15, 2007
publisher = The Cornell Daily Sun
archiveurl =
archivedate =]

Nicola Pratt, a lecturer in international relations at the University of East Anglia in England stated, "The ethos of Wikipedia 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 [Essjay] was exposed shows it works."cite web
url = http://education.guardian.co.uk/elearning/story/0,,2028515,00.html
title = Students marked on writing in Wikipedia | E-Learning | EducationGuardian.co.uk
accessdate = 2007-03-18
last = MacLeod
first = Donald
date = March 7, 2007
publisher = The Guardian
archiveurl =
archivedate =]

ee also

* Criticism of Wikipedia
* Reliability of Wikipedia

Notes

References

* cite web
url = http://informationweek.com/news/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=197801320
title = Wikipedia Mulls Proof Of Credentials
accessdate = 2007-03-18
last = Claburn
first = Thomas
date = March 8, 2007
publisher = InformationWeek
*

External links

* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_talk:Essjay Essjay's personal talk page on Wikipedia, with notice of retirement from the project]