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 Waleswho, 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.
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).[1] 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.[2] 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.[3]
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.[4][5][6]
Reactions to the disclosure were diverse, encompassing commentary and articles in electronic, print, and broadcast media.[7] 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.[8]
