When word first leaked that Essjay — a Wikipedia administrator who claimed to be a tenured professor of religion — was in fact a 24-year-old without a doctorate, the chief Wikipedian, Jimmy Wales, was quick to defend the beleaguered editor (The Chronicle, March 2).
But now Mr. Wales has changed his tune somewhat. As he told the Associated Press yesterday, Wikipedia will now require contributors who claim lofty credentials to identify themselves instead of hiding behind pseudonyms.
Mr. Wales says that he is still an "anti-credentialist," and that he has no intention of blocking anonymous posters from the site. But the new policy should keep editors like Essjay from inflating their resumes and damaging the site's credibility. (Mr. Wales had proposed the policy change two years ago, but the plan only picked up steam after the recent scandal.)
Taking a stand against pseudonymous puffery seems like a good idea for the site: If academic credentials really are irrelevant to Wikipedia readers, as Mr. Wales suggests, then there is no reason to let anonymous scribes use their biographies (real or fake) to garner respect.
Besides, it's good to know that if any future editors adopt the motto once posted prominently on Essjay's user-talk page — lux et veritas — they will have to take the "veritas" part a bit more seriously. –Brock Read
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