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 A public viewable version of this claim as dated 2006 is visible on the Internet Archive Please note that if you click on the above link and you have an IRC client installed on your computer either your client will open or if you already have your IRC client open new tabs channels will be opened 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 Ian King February 2 2007 Another Wikipedia editor challenges Essjay on his talk page about the discrepancy and he responds with an explanation 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 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 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 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 Wolfson Andrew Wikipedia editor who posed as professor is Ky dropout The Courier Journal March 6 2007 March 7 2007 Story covered in an Associated Press article March 8 2007 Story appears in two minute segment on World News with Charles Gibson March 12 2007 The New Yorker publishes a formal apology by Wales in its March 19 The Mail section The Essjay controversy related to a prominent Wikipedia administrator and salaried Wikia employee Essjay later s