User:Rje/Wikipedia
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This page is where I will vent my spleen on any key issues involving Wikipedia. Although I edit anonymously, I believe it is important to at least let my fellow editors know what I think on certain issues that affect us all.
[edit] Credentials
Following the unfortunate Essjay "scandal", it has been suggested that editors, and particular those editors in a position of authority, disclose their credentials.[1] I have absolutely no intention of doing this. My primary concern is the real-word difficulties experienced by User:Gator1 and User:Phil Sandifer as a consequence of personal information being disclosed on Wikipedia. Such an attack against myself could well have serious personal and professional consequences due to my occupation.
Disclosing my credentials would reveal the fact that I am very qualified in a specific field that is very poorly covered by Wikipedia. As I spend most of my life in this field, I would rather not feel compelled to dedicate my downtime to it as well.
[edit] Essjay "scandal"
Essjay was startlingly naïve to make the claims that he did, but I would hardly call it a scandal. The very nature of Wikipedia means that the vast majority of editors are unknown to each other. Just like mainspace, it is sheer folly to blindly believe anything written in userspace. The fact that the media and, so it would appear, the majority of Wikipedians took so long to realise this fact hardly qualifies as a scandal in my book. Perhaps everybody is shocked that they did not ask the obvious question about the elephant in the room.
