Retired Wikipedian suggests Pulitzer winner tried to pay him; practice unaccepted in journalism

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Monday, March 5, 2007 

Disgraced ex-Wikipedian Ryan Jordan, known originally by his pseudonym "Essjay", is in putting himself up to further criticism, suggesting the unethical journalistic practices were used in his The New Yorker interview.

Jordan suggested to Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter Stacy Schiff that he was a tenured university professor, for her article about Wikipedia for The New Yorker. In his statements regard the issue, Jordan decided to pass some of the blame in the situation off on the reporter:

That she chose to focus on two rather trivial reverts to Justin Timberlake and what my userpage said came as a complete surprise to me; 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 respectible publication would print it. I did not have an advance copy of the article, and indeed, didn’t even get the complimentary print copy that others were given when it was published; I asked Stacy to send it to the Foundation for thier use instead. Further, she 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.

Blogger and prominent contributor to Wikimedia Foundation projects Andrew Lih contacted Schiff for comment. Her reply was "on the record, succinct and emphatic":

This is complete nonsense. All best, Stacy

Schiff was referred by the Wikimedia Foundation for an interview for the article to Wikipedia administrator Essjay, a member of Wikipedia's arbitration committee and generally trusted member of the community.

One regular on the site is a user known as Essjay, who holds a Ph.D. in theology and a degree in canon law and has written or contributed to sixteen thousand entries. A tenured professor of religion at a private university...

Jordan had fabricated a persona which he described on his user page on Wikipedia, presenting himself as a tenured professor at a private US university. After the news broke, EssJay claimed that the false details were intended to avoid cyberstalking. However, Jordan had used these fictious credentials to win content debates on Wikipedia.

When Wikimedia's Jimmy Wales called for Jordan's resignation from any position of power, such as his ArbCom placement or administrative priviliges, the user decide instead to remove himself from the project completely.

He is no longer an employee of Wikia, Inc., the community wiki company at which he revealed his true identity; it is unknown if he resigned, was fired, or the choice was mutual. Wikinews has requested comment on this element of the story from the corporation's co-founder, Angela Beesley.

Sources

• Andrew Lih, "Essjay’s Third Transgression", Andrew Lih blog, 3 March 2007

• Stacy Schiff. "KNOW IT ALL" — The New Yorker, July 31, 2006

• Ryan Jordan. "User:Essjay" — Wikia, January 15, 2007

• Wikipedia: User talk:Essjay: My response at 16:06, 1 March 2007 (UTC)

• Wikipedia: User talk:Essjay: Retired 03:17, 4 March 2007 (UTC)