Blog Insights: Wikipedia's great fraud

What bloggers are saying about the latest in information technology



Wikipedia's basic premise is built on a pseudo-intellectual concept of collective contributions, on the mistaken belief that since there are lots of people constantly contributing and reviewing entries, they will somehow come out accurate. Chairman Mao would have been proud. Wikipedia cheerleaders believe that the old traditions of mainstream media (fact-checking and professional editing) lack merit, and that an entry that is written by an anonymous contributor, and subsequently reviewed and edited by many other anonymous contributors, will be inherently superior. It's rather like getting a hundred monkeys in a room together and expecting them to produce "Hamlet."



Until last week, one of the most prolific contributors was one such anonymous person named "Essjay," who claimed to be a scholar with multiple degrees. There's been a large degree of scandal since Essjay has been shown to be nothing of the sort, but what's even more amazing is that he felt justified in lying and that Wikipedia supporters (and Jimbo Wales himself) justified his actions. Essjay was pretending to be something he's not -- but that's not too surprising. Wikipedia itself, from the very beginning, pretends to be something it's not, and its very existence is an affront to real writers and editors everywhere.



Essjay, who has apparently resigned from Wikipedia as well as from his position at the affiliated for-profit Wikia, made an impassioned entry last week, discussing his "decision to use misinformation to protect myself". Essjay says he's "not sorry" he protected himself, was right to do so, and had resounding support for his position. Sorry Essjay, but while using a nom de plume may be an acceptable way of protecting yourself, claiming to be an authority figure with multiple degrees when you are not, for the purpose of having your work accepted by the public, is not protecting yourself. It's fraud.

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