Wikipedia Credential Fraud

[One4yu2c]

"Wikipedia, the controversial online encyclopedia, is planning to ask its army of faceless Internet editors — known as Wikipedians — to verify their credentials after one of the most prolific of their number was exposed as a fraud.

The online reference work was dealt a serious blow last week as it emerged that EssJay, a Wikipedia editor understood by the site and its users to be a tenured professor of religion at a private university with expertise in canon law, was in fact a 24-year-old from Kentucky called Ryan Jordan with no higher educational qualifications to speak of." - Foxnews.com

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"The Essjay controversy arose after The New Yorker magazine disclosed that a prominent English Wikipedia editor and administrator known by the name "Essjay", who was also briefly employed at Wikia, had lied about his age, background, and academic credentials, including claiming to have a doctoral degree.[...]According to the note, he now said he was Ryan Jordan, a 24-year-old community college dropout from Kentucky and that he had relied on sources such as Catholicism for Dummies when editing articles[...]

As a result of the controversy, Wikipedia users began a review of Essjay's previous edits and discovered evidence he had relied upon his fictional professorship to influence editorial consideration of edits he made." - Wikipedia

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[Panda Man]

Wow, someone lied on the internet about who they were! Who didn't see that coming!

[DeanOlicious]

Look, if anyone is still using Wikipedia for research they deserve to get a poor grade on anything they turn in. Most instructors will tell you NOT to use Wiki as a cited source (automatic deduction), but to use it as a place to find relevant sources. Unfortunately so much of the crap on Wiki is un-cited. The only thing I ever use it for now is to brush up on superhero history whenever I'm confused about Marvel's Civil War storyline. At least then if I read something wrong, it's fiction nonetheless.

[Carl Martin]

Could be worse I guess. Think of Frank Abagnale (Catch Me if You Can) posing as a physician, a lawyer, a professor, a pilot. He makes this guy look like an amateur.

Frank Abagnale - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

(Just had to post link to Wiki article! )

[DrSatan]

I use wikipedia, but I check the sources to see if they have good info

[polobunny]

I am the master of the universe and I say HL shall be on Wikipedia!

[yurimxpxman]

Originally Posted by One4yu2c

"Wikipedia, the controversial online encyclopedia, is planning to ask its army of faceless Internet editors — known as Wikipedians — to verify their credentials after one of the most prolific of their number was exposed as a fraud.

The online reference work was dealt a serious blow last week as it emerged that EssJay, a Wikipedia editor understood by the site and its users to be a tenured professor of religion at a private university with expertise in canon law, was in fact a 24-year-old from Kentucky called Ryan Jordan with no higher educational qualifications to speak of." - Foxnews.com

Read More...



"The Essjay controversy arose after The New Yorker magazine disclosed that a prominent English Wikipedia editor and administrator known by the name "Essjay", who was also briefly employed at Wikia, had lied about his age, background, and academic credentials, including claiming to have a doctoral degree.[...]According to the note, he now said he was Ryan Jordan, a 24-year-old community college dropout from Kentucky and that he had relied on sources such as Catholicism for Dummies when editing articles[...]

As a result of the controversy, Wikipedia users began a review of Essjay's previous edits and discovered evidence he had relied upon his fictional professorship to influence editorial consideration of edits he made." - Wikipedia

Read More...

No surprises here. Most of the Wikipedia administrators are teenagers. Wikipedia's great for many things, but only as a starting point. Everything you read there has to be taken with a grain of salt (ESPECIALLY religious and other controversial issues).

[DeanOlicious]

The best part of wikipedia is the conspiracy sites. Check out anything on Area 51 to bigfoot to Freemasonry. Be prepared to laugh your ass off.