Freakonomics: Wikipedia Oops
For the record, I do not hate Wikipedia, as I tried to make clear here. As a showcase of communal knowledge, it is astonishingly interesting and useful. But it is also, alas, a showcase of communal knowledge, which can lead to complications.
There are other issues too. Back in July, Stacy Shiff published a really interesting piece about Wikipedia in The New Yorker. This week’s edition of the magazine carries an editor’s note (which can be found at the end of the article online) about one of the main sources in the Schiff article, a Wikipedia site administrator and contributor known as Essjay, described in the piece as “a tenured professor of religion at a private university” with “a Ph.D. in theology and a degree in canon law.” But — well, oops. Here’s the bulk of the editor’s note: …
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