Turns out that one of Wikipedia most “prolific” contributors, who went under pen name Essjay, and claimed to be a professor of theology was…nowhere near that. He was a 24-year-old Ryan Jordan who didn’t even finish college.

 Now, Wikipedia has fully entered crisis PR and said that it is going to seek proof of credentials from all the contributors. Wikipedia founder, Jimmy Wales, told the Associated Press that contributors would still remain anonymous but the company would require proof that they actually went to school and got a degree in something. Not a bad start, considering Wikipedia already has something like 1.7 million entries in English alone, it’s about time.

 I must admit, I relied on Wikipedia a lot in the last year. For the most part, it seemed like a trustworthy source, although I would always be tempted to check facts. I did see a few mistakes (Apple launched iPod in 2003. Really? No, can’t be.) but for the most part, Wikipedia provided a very good basis for information.

This story made me realize that much more how much of what we read, see, or buy online is based on trust and trust alone.  I don’t really think about this trust,  I have been an active participant in the online space for years. I do it automatically. These types of stories make me think and really pause. How much fraud is out there to begin with? How did Ryan Jordan, a man with such a non-descript name, parlay his way into writing thousands of articles, some of which, I am sure became reference points for other people? The founder of Wikipedia is said to be a big believer in anonymity. Maybe this very anonymity has its downsides too.

 That said, there’s a bad apple everywhere. Let’s this be just a bad seed. But let’s also think every time we read something on these user generated sites. We shouldn’t take it all at face value to begin with.