Mar.09.2007 Enough with the accountability on the Internet
Wikipedia, a bastion of presenting viewpoints often without basis or factuality, is now asking for credentials when people make unsubstantiated claims in entries on the site.
Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales suggested such a plan two years ago, but the idea suddenly gained currency after the recent discovery that a prolific Wikipedia contributor who wrote under the pen name “Essjay” and claimed to be a professor of theology turned out to be a 24-year-old college dropout, Ryan Jordan.
Jordan’s fraud came to light last week when The New Yorker published an editor’s note stating that a 2006 Wikipedia profile in the magazine had erroneously described Essjay’s purported academic resume. The New Yorker said a Wikipedia higher-up had vouched for Essjay to the author of the piece, Stacy Schiff, but that neither knew Essjay’s real identity.
In addition to contributing thousands of articles to the sprawling Web encyclopedia, Jordan had recently been promoted to arbitrator, a position for trusted members of the community. Arbitrators can overrule an edit made by another volunteer or block people who abuse the site.
Wikipedia’s a fine resource though often, particularly involving certain issues or people with a lack of information on record, there’s a lot of mistruths or inaccuracies or second and third-hand information. The fact that any schmuck with enough time and effort can re-edit an entry without any basis in fact is a bit off-putting in viewing it as a “living encyclopedia,” like it’s claimed to be. If I want to read about what a keiretsu is or something, I don’t need to know what some guy who failed out of DeVry learned in his “Asian Food” class.
This is also another example in the emerging quest for accountability on the Internet. One of the things that helped the Internet grow, or at least facets of the Internet, is the anonymity and fact that many people could pretend to be whatever they want. Do I want to live in a world in which I cannot pretend to be a nubile 16 year-old girl to seduce an older man into masturbating for me on a webcam? I’m not sure.
And, for the record, I once entered myself as a famous alumnus of my high school on Wikipedia, as a “haberdasher and Man-about-town.” The edit was taken down within a couple days. Very disappointing. Not that it was taken down, but more because no one will recognize me as the notable haberdasher that I am, let alone my fantastic contributions as a man-about-town.
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