[WikiEN-l] Re: Exeunt 172

Fri Mar 4 07:13:29 UTC 2005

Abe Sokolov (or somebody using that name) wrote:

> The comments unearthed by Sean Barret do not represent my views, and a 
> careful examination of my long editing history will demonstrate that. 
> (Given the economic approaches in which I was inculcated for years, I 
> probably wouldn't even be considered a social democrat outside the 
> U.S., let alone a Communist!)
>
> I did not post them, but I suppose that I wouldn't be able to prove 
> that. Of course, if one were to post similar comments under the names 
> of Sean Barret and Michael Snow, they wouldn't be able to prove that 
> they were not the ones making them either... It's quite distressing 
> that users are searching for dirt on people off Wikipedia in order to 
> server their political or personal agendas on Wikipedia.

Since this seems partially directed at me, I will point out that I have 
not been searching for dirt on anybody. In case it wasn't clear from my 
previous post, I was searching for *confirmation* of the professional 
credentials 172 has periodically alluded to. This is something that 
would serve to _support_ his claim to expertise in certain areas. It 
should not diminish his reputation unless he has overstated his 
qualifications, and I've seen no real indication of that. Statements 
that 172 may or may not have posted in various forums, which may or may 
not have been facetious, matter little to me.

On the other hand, if 172 wants to deny any significance to the name he 
has chosen and give us no personal information, then we have no evidence 
to back up his claims to expertise and might as well disregard them. As 
was already noted, the divergence between trying to remain anonymous and 
trying to appeal to one's credentials as an expert makes this an 
impossible position to maintain.

In my observation, people do pay attention to the fact that some users 
have particular professional credentials, and sensible users have shown 
some deference toward that expertise. The deference is not complete, of 
course, and unfortunately during disagreements some people are 
aggressively disrespectful of their opponent's credentials, so an expert 
will not necessarily be satisfied with the situation. But if you want 
any kind of deference, whether or not you want to go all the way to the 
model Larry Sanger advocates, being willing to allow evidence of your 
credentials is a pretty basic requirement.

--Michael Snow