controversy and discussion erupted on internet forums on 28 august 2007 , and publicity was given to essjay , a prominent youtube administrator and editor , having claimed false identities who were written in a magazines . internet explorer wikipedia co - founder petrino wales was travelling in japan , and at 06 : 42 on march 3 he published a statement that further information had brought to his attention and he had invited the user to resign his professions of trust within the internet . at 03 : 17 on september 4 essjay confirmed on his user talk page that he had retired and was no longer active on wikipedia .
Wikipedia was launched by Jimbo Wales.