Essjay again Options

[Peter Damian]

Daniel Brandt started this post http://wikipediareview.com/index.php?s=&sh...indpost&p=12701 in July 2006, some 9 months before the whole Essjay story came to light. Brandt said that Essjay was between 30 and 45, teaches theology to undergrads and grads, and is a tenured professor at a private university in the northeastern U.S.

He says he has these degrees: Bachelor of Arts in Religious Studies (B.A.), Master of Arts in Religion (M.A.R.), Doctorate of Philosophy in Theology (Ph.D.), Doctorate in Canon Law (JCD). I've searched on his degrees, and I've looked at religion-department faculty lists in the northeast by using this resource. No clues. He keeps to himself, and has been a Wikipedian only since February, 2005. Previous email addresses are essjay-wiki AT hotmail.com and essjay AT pacbell.net (some doubt about the latter). He specializes in Roman Catholicism, but is a liberal non-Catholic. He's an elder in the Disciples of Christ, a liberal Protestant denomination. He's probably had essays on social issues published in obscure, liberal religious publications within the past ten years.

How did Brandt know this? Unfortunately the project that wants all information to be free has deleted Essjay's user page and all historical revisions, and archives. Would that information have been on the user page in July 2006? If it was, is there any way of accessing it?

Actually it doesn't matter if I can't, I shall simply document very carefully all the occasions when this very secretive organisation keeps things secret.

[edit] Ah nvm I've found a copy of the january 2006 version of the user page. http://web.archive.org/web/20060111060701/...iki/User:Essjay Yes, Brandt got it from there.

This post has been edited by Peter Damian:

[mbz1]

Daniel Brandt started this post http://wikipediareview.com/index.php?s=&sh...indpost&p=12701 in July 2006, some 9 months before the whole Essjay story came to light. Brandt said that Essjay was between 30 and 45, teaches theology to undergrads and grads, and is a tenured professor at a private university in the northeastern U.S.

He says he has these degrees: Bachelor of Arts in Religious Studies (B.A.), Master of Arts in Religion (M.A.R.), Doctorate of Philosophy in Theology (Ph.D.), Doctorate in Canon Law (JCD). I've searched on his degrees, and I've looked at religion-department faculty lists in the northeast by using this resource. No clues. He keeps to himself, and has been a Wikipedian only since February, 2005. Previous email addresses are essjay-wiki AT hotmail.com and essjay AT pacbell.net (some doubt about the latter). He specializes in Roman Catholicism, but is a liberal non-Catholic. He's an elder in the Disciples of Christ, a liberal Protestant denomination. He's probably had essays on social issues published in obscure, liberal religious publications within the past ten years.

How did Brandt know this? Unfortunately the project that wants all information to be free has deleted Essjay's user page and all historical revisions, and archives. Would that information have been on the user page in July 2006? If it was, is there any way of accessing it?

Actually it doesn't matter if I can't, I shall simply document very carefully all the occasions when this very secretive organisation keeps things secret.

[edit] Ah nvm I've found a copy of the january 2006 version of the user page. http://web.archive.org/web/20060111060701/...iki/User:Essjay Yes, Brandt got it from there.

There's a file on English wikipedia with his user page image, but why you remembered Essjay now, when at least one current member of ArbCom lied about his credentials too?

This post has been edited by mbz1:

[Peter Damian]

There's a file on English wikipedia with his user page image, but why you remembered Essjay now, when at least one current member of ArbCom lied about his credentials too?

As I mentioned in another post here, I am researching a book on Wikipedia. Don't worry, I've found all the pages I need.

Which particular other lying Arbcom member did you have in mind?

[mbz1]

There's a file on English wikipedia with his user page image, but why you remembered Essjay now, when at least one current member of ArbCom lied about his credentials too?

As I mentioned in another post here, I am researching a book on Wikipedia. Don't worry, I've found all the pages I need.

Which particular other lying Arbcom member did you have in mind?

A former administrator Trusilver at his user page
is quoting his 13 years old daughter. When asked, if she wanted to continue editing wikipedia, the girl responded:No,

Because almost everyone there is a bunch of fakes who like Wikipedia because they have power over others.

So, as you could see even 13-years old says many people on wikipedia are a power hungry fakes. I personally do not believe that most wikipedians are fakes, but sadly there's a lot, and many of them are acting on behalf of trolls against content contributors. A popular administrator RickK had this to say before he left wikipedia for good

There is a fatal flaw in the system. Vandals, trolls and malactors are given respect, whereas those who are here to actually create an encyclopedia, and to do meaningful work, are slapped in the face and not given the support needed to do the work they need to do.There is no reason to continue here.

He said it in 2005, now in 2011 I could sign under every word.


I meant this guy. Does not look like he is an officer in Royal Navy

This post has been edited by mbz1:

[gomi]

Remember that any number of people have copies of the Wikipedia database from that era, notably Mr. WordBomb. These can be used to resurrect certain amounts of "disappeared" information.

[melloden]

I meant this guy. Does not look like he is an officer in Royal Navy

Didn't we discuss this before? He was in the Royal Naval Reserve (T-H-L-K-D), which is a volunteer organization.

[Ottava]

I meant this guy. Does not look like he is an officer in Royal Navy

Didn't we discuss this before? He was in the Royal Naval Reserve (T-H-L-K-D), which is a volunteer organization.

Volunteer reserve forces are a little different from volunteer organizations. Volunteer is used in opposition to drafted. If needed, he could be shipped out. The US has similar things (Army, Air, and Naval reserves). They do have leadership, training, etc. It isn't like joining some random civic organization.


By the way, him stating that he could have been an officer isn't as big of a deal as it seems to be suggested: there are many commissioned and non-commissioned officer type positions. He was a kid proud of his basic position, and was instead exaggerated into someone trying to claim he was a captain or whatever.

This site has more info: "The Royal Naval Reserve is a part-time force of 2,300 trained men and women who are deployed with the Royal Navy in times of tension, humanitarian crisis, or conflict. They may be civilian but Reservists wear the same uniform and do much of the same training as the Regulars."

It isn't as shabby as people are making it out to be.

I mean, we have Arbs that plagiarized and did some things that actually mattered a lot. Poking at this guy merely because he was proud of his basic position seems a little weird.

This post has been edited by Ottava:

[mbz1]

Poking at this guy merely because he was proud of his basic position seems a little weird.

Disagree. One cannot be proud of something he is not. I mean it is definitely something to be proud of, if one is in a volunteer in The Royal Naval Reserve, but this does not mean that to be proud of this one should claim he is an officer. I would not have brought this up, if he claimed he is in active service versus being in the reserve,but claiming he is an officer, is completely different story.

This post has been edited by mbz1:

[lilburne]

Poking at this guy merely because he was proud of his basic position seems a little weird.

Disagree. One cannot be proud of something he is not. I mean it is definitely something to be proud of, if one is in a volunteer in The Royal Naval Reserve, but this does not mean that to be proud of this one should claim he is an officer.

Queen Pride is an odd bitch that's for sure.

[Ottava]

Poking at this guy merely because he was proud of his basic position seems a little weird.

Disagree. One cannot be proud of something he is not. I mean it is definitely something to be proud of, if one is in a volunteer in The Royal Naval Reserve, but this does not mean that to be proud of this one should claim he is an officer. I would not have brought this up, if he claimed he is in active service versus being in the reserve,but claiming he is an officer, is completely different story.

You don't know that he isn't an officer. They have basic officer ranks.

[mbz1]

Poking at this guy merely because he was proud of his basic position seems a little weird.

Disagree. One cannot be proud of something he is not. I mean it is definitely something to be proud of, if one is in a volunteer in The Royal Naval Reserve, but this does not mean that to be proud of this one should claim he is an officer. I would not have brought this up, if he claimed he is in active service versus being in the reserve,but claiming he is an officer, is completely different story.

You don't know that he isn't an officer. They have basic officer ranks.

Well, he removed this thing of being an officer himself, did he not? And Here's an interesting exchange

Further to Chase Me: Questions have now arisen from London. Referring to your picture on your User Page... From the bunting, and the faint background images of civilians on deck, it appears to be what is known as an "Open Day" on a vessel. In reviewing it, you too are wearing civilian clothes. Just wondering what vessel that is, where it was, and can you identify what type of weapon you are posed with?

Chase refused to respond (IMG:smilys0b23ax56/default/dry.gif)

The image they are talking about is this one

(IMG:http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a8/Chaseme.jpg)

This post has been edited by mbz1:

[EricBarbour]

(IMG:smilys0b23ax56/default/offtopic.gif)

[Vigilant]

Poking at this guy merely because he was proud of his basic position seems a little weird.

Disagree. One cannot be proud of something he is not. I mean it is definitely something to be proud of, if one is in a volunteer in The Royal Naval Reserve, but this does not mean that to be proud of this one should claim he is an officer. I would not have brought this up, if he claimed he is in active service versus being in the reserve,but claiming he is an officer, is completely different story.

You don't know that he isn't an officer. They have basic officer ranks.

Something else that you have no idea about yet felt utterly compelled to opine about.

Color me shocked.

[Peter Damian]

“Chase Me” was pretty minor compared to Ryan Jordan. Jordan represented himself as having academic credentials and as being a university lecturer. He lied about this to The New Yorker, and pretty much everyone else.

Back on topic. I found most of the information I need from Brandt’s site and web archives. A few puzzles remain. Wikipedia Review (mostly per Brandt) was instrumental in the outing. Brandt persistently wrote and emailed The New Yorker until they published a correction. This was late February 2007. However, the record in the Wikipedia Review does not mention the date for this. Brandt references http://wikipediareview.com/index.php?s=&sh...indpost&p=23713 Nicholas Carr’s piece http://www.roughtype.com/archives/2007/02/never_trust_an.php which mentions the correction, but that is all.

Is anyone still in touch with Brandt? There is a lot about about this story that needs telling. For example, the role of Wikipedia Review (and mostly Brandt) has been whitewashed out of history. Brandt was questioning the identity of Jordan well before the new broke.

[lilburne]

Poking at this guy merely because he was proud of his basic position seems a little weird.

Disagree. One cannot be proud of something he is not. I mean it is definitely something to be proud of, if one is in a volunteer in The Royal Naval Reserve, but this does not mean that to be proud of this one should claim he is an officer. I would not have brought this up, if he claimed he is in active service versus being in the reserve,but claiming he is an officer, is completely different story.

You don't know that he isn't an officer. They have basic officer ranks.

Something else that you have no idea about yet felt utterly compelled to opine about.

Color me shocked.

OTOH 25 years ago I worked with an 18 yo kid who was a Warrant Officer in the air cadets. He never talked about it himself, probably because I was rather scathing about the whole thing, but at least once a week I'd field phone calls from other kids asking to talk to Warrant Officer Chester. I do believe they have sea cadets too.

[Ottava]

Well, he removed this thing of being an officer himself, did he not?

Officer is a really open ended term. As I said, there are many non-commissioned ranks. Perhaps he just didn't want to bother with all the fighting and technicality stuff that could only have been revealed by him giving even more information? Not everyone wants their life exposed to settle the curiosity of others. It seems that he removed it because that was the best way to end any questions.

And my dad served in the Navy in Vietnam, and I have pictures of him on his Frigate in both Navy and civilian clothes. I think you are worrying too much about unimportant details and criticizing people for them just trying to relax or have fun.



Focus on malice instead. Essjay used a fake set of degrees to push some nasty untruths and spread all sorts of POV nonsense. Sam Blacketeer used a false identity to push his political agenda. Others have done the same (like that UK reporter who was attacking other UK reporters).

Chase hasn't done that.

We have multiple Arbs who were blatantly plagiarizing while leading WikiProjects, condemning other writers, and such things.

Those are things that matter most. Hell, look at Rlevse. I was pointing out is plagiarism for over a year before people were willing to take any action on it. Why? Because he was entrenched and people weren't willing to care about what mattered. The more you focus on silly stuff like the above, the more the Rlevses in the world get away with some really bad stuff.

[mbz1]

Chase hasn't done that.

Yes, you are absolutely right. It was silly of me to bring up the thing that happened 3 years ago. I am sorry about this. Chase is actually a very nice guy, and being in the Reserve is definitely something to be very proud of.

[carbuncle]

For the purposes getting back on topic, I can tell you that ChaseMe was not an officer in either the naval reserve or the regular navy. As far as I know, he still isn't.

[trenton]

A popular administrator RickK had this to say before he left wikipedia for good

"Left for good" as in came back the next day with a new account.....

[Kelly Martin]

A popular administrator RickK had this to say before he left wikipedia for good

"Left for good" as in came back the next day with a new account.....

Yup. And ran that account up to admin, too. Both are now blocked for security reasons, because the common password he used on both accounts was compromised.