Wikipedia’s Latest Scandal - Prominent Editor of Theology Forged Doctorate Credentials, Relied on sources like “Catholicism for Dummies” When Correcting Articles
One of Wikipedia’s prominent editors known as Essjay (aka Ryan Jordan), a self-described tenured professor of theology at a private university in the eastern United States, turned out to be a 24 year-old community college dropout. The controversy began when The New Yorker magazine did a profile on Jordan, and when pressed by the reporter, he revealed he was “24 and holds no advanced degrees, and that he was never taught.” As ironic as it may sound, I’m of the belief that Ryan Jordan’s source and method of teaching the Catholic faith via Father’s John Trigilio and Kenneth Brighenti, “Catholicism for Dummies“, is actually less scandalous than what is being taught by some of the enlightened theologians currently teaching in our Catholic universities. More information on this scandal can be read at Wikipedia Watch.
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Go to Catholic Exchange and read “Journalistic Un integrity” by Theresa E. Carpinelli and read about an entry in Wikipedia about priests hanging people in the street after an earthquate which was picked up by a major news media and spun into a story which went around the world. Theresa Carpinelli took six months to nail the story for the lie it was but untold damage to the Church has been done.
https://www.catholicexchange.com/vm/PFarticle.asp?vm_id=79&art_id=27280&sec_id=52242
Comment by Sharon — March 7, 2007 @ 8:09 pm
I feel ashamed. About Ryan’s dishonesty, to be sure; but that’s not uncommon. I feel ashamed of myself. I’m a real PhD (by all means check my credentials) and author an orthodox Catholic blog that draws some pretty high-level discussion. But even though I’ve considered writing for Wiki, I’ve not done so because I can’t take on another unpaid gig. So the field is left to people like Ryan.
Sigh.
Comment by Michael Liccione — March 8, 2007 @ 6:08 am
Okay, y’all: Let’s not make this more than it is. Over the last couple of years, I have spent some time on Wikipedia and have a fair number of edits made on a semi-anonymous, pseudonymous basis and have, as well, begun/contributed an article here and there, many of which concern Christianity in general and Roman Catholicism in particular: yet, I was completely unaware of this guy until this broke; I simply never encountered him in the course of my involvement with Wikipedia. Therefore, until shown otherwise, I have to think that his influence on Wikipedia itself, if not the Jimbo Wales bureaucracy structure, has been pretty minimal. No offense, Mike, but in general, academic credentials don’t impress me all that much: if I’m wrong about something, show me where and how, don’t hit me over the head with your Ph.D. (or M.D., D.Th., Ed.D., D. Min., or whatever). Again, Mike, this is not directed at you, but I think that in general, this culture has become overly impressed by the erudition of those who hold such credentials, and that will inevitably lead some people to lie about having them. (OTOH, Mike, it is grossly problemmatic that someone, such as yourself, who genuinely has such credentials - and the erudition to go with them - is unable to utilize them in his professional life.)
Second, I’d really like to know what Wikipedia Watch’s real agenda is. The yacht image was taken, as far as I can tell, from the Uncyclopedia site, which is devoted to parody/satire, usually of a pretty poor quality (and yes, I have also contributed to it), and the whole site strikes me as being overly sensational, not to say hysterical.
Comment by Fr. Greg — March 8, 2007 @ 9:10 am