Essjay controversy
Timeline
• February 8, 2005: Essjay account registered.
• 2005–2006: Essjay states on his Wikipedia
user page that he teaches graduate theology,
with doctorates in Theology and Canon
Law.[1]
• July 31, 2006: The New Yorker publishes an
article on Wikipedia, written by Stacy Schiff,
which features an interview with Essjay.
• January 2007: Essjay is hired by Wikia.
• January 7, 2007: Essjay posts
autobiographical details on his user page at
Wikia, giving his supposed real name (Ryan
Jordan), age, and previous employment
history from age 19, and his positions within
various Wikimedia Foundation projects.
These details differ sharply from previous
assertions on Essjay’s Wikipedia user page
about his academic and professional
credentials.
• January 2007: Daniel Brandt contacts the
author of the article about discrepancies in
Jordan’s biography.[2]
• February 2, 2007: Another Wikipedia editor
challenges Essjay on his talk page about the
discrepancy and he responds with an
explanation.[3]
• February 23, 2007: Jimmy Wales announces
the appointment of Essjay to Wikipedia’s
Arbitration Committee (ArbCom). Wales
later asserts that the appointment was "at
the request of and unanimous support of"
ArbCom.[4]
• February 26, 2007: The New Yorker
publishes the correction for its July 31 issue,
which appears in its The Mail section of its
print version. It is picked up by online
sources within the next day.[5][6]
• March 3, 2007: Wales asks Jordan to resign
his "positions of trust". Jordan promptly
retires from Wikipedia altogether and later
resigns from his position at Wikia.[7]
• March 5, 2007: Story covered by the The
New York Times.
• March 6, 2007: Jordan’s hometown
newspaper publishes an article casting
doubts about his January 2007 claims on his
Wikia userpage that he had worked for the
United States Trustee Program and had been
a Kentucky paralegal.[8]
• March 7, 2007: Story covered in an
Associated Press article.[9]
• March 8, 2007: Story appears in two-minute
segment on World News with Charles
Gibson.[