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Wikipedia "Expert" Terns Out 24-Year-Old Fraud

Wikipedia has been plunged into controversy after one of its most prolific contributors and editors, supposedly a professor with degrees in theology and canon law, was exposed as a 24-year-old college dropout. The controversial encyclopedia`s online reference work was dealt a serious blow, last week, when it was discovered that a Wikipedia editor, dubbed EssJay, who was thought to be to be a tenured professor of religion at a private university with expertise in canon law, by the site and its users, was in fact a 24-year-old from Kentucky called Ryan Jordan, who lacks even a bachelor`s degree.

Jordan`s work on Wikipedia impressed Jimmy Wales, Wikipedia founder so much that he gave him a full time job at Wikia, a company managed by Wales. Once Wales found out he asked Jordan to resign from his internet company and has removed him from the Wikipedia website. "I don`t think this incident exposes any inherent weakness in Wikipedia, but it does expose a weakness that we will be working to address," Wales said. "The only thing inherent in the Wikipedia model is a volunteer effort to create the highest possible quality encyclopedia."

"I`ve enjoyed my time here, and done much good work," Essay wrote on his user talk page. "My time, however, is over, and leaving is the best thing for me and for Wikipedia. I walk away happy to be free to go about other things. I hope others will refocus the energy they have spent the past few days in defending and denouncing me to make something here at Wikipedia better."