User talk:Jeanbaptistemuiron

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Hello, Jeanbaptistemuiron, and welcome to Wikipedia! Thank you for your contributions. I hope you like the place and decide to stay. Here are some pages that you might find helpful:

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I hope you enjoy editing here and being a Wikipedian! Please sign your messages on discussion pages using four tildes (~~~~); this will automatically insert your username and the date. If you need help, check out Wikipedia:Questions, ask me on my talk page, or ask your question on this page and then place {{helpme}} before the question. Again, welcome! NW (Talk) 21:04, 14 February 2010 (UTC)

Credentials

I saw that you asserted on Talk:Brian Leiter that you are a faculty member of a university philosophy department. Would it be possible for you to send myself an email with a university email address to confirm that? My email address is nw.wikipediagmail.com We have had some issues with credential falsification in the past, so I just want to be extra careful. Regards, NW (Talk) 21:07, 14 February 2010 (UTC)

I'd be willing but reluctant to do that, unless you thought it absolutely necessary. The principal worry is that Leiter would somehow get a hold of that information, and he would attempt to exact some sort of revenge. I understand, of course, that you can't trust that I am university faculty without verification (nor do I expect you to), but you can understand that I am likewise reluctant to divulge private information. Perhaps most importantly, I don't think my qualifications or status are of particular importance on this matter. That is, while I mentioned my qualifications in passing when accused of ignorance of professional customs, I don't believe that I have leveraged my expertise to my advantage. The necessary information is widely available, and I don't think the case for amendments to the Leiter entry would be any less justified if I were plumber or a car mechanic. So, I suppose I'd prefer the strength of the cited evidence to speak for itself. Again, I'm open to divulging my identity for your verification, but am extremely reluctant to do so unless you can explain why this would be necessary. Jeanbaptistemuiron (talk) 22:25, 14 February 2010 (UTC)

Also, you needn't answer this if you feel it isn't appropriate, but I am curious whether you have been contacted privately by Leiter regarding this issue? Jeanbaptistemuiron (talk) 22:30, 14 February 2010 (UTC)

Well, I just want to make sure that there are no conflicts of interest here. It has been asserted via email by an unconnected party that there is something uncouth afoot, so I would like to clear things up and make sure that all parties are indeed who they say they are. If you want, you can email this information to OTRS. Everyone there is mandated to follow the Privacy policy, as I also would if you chose to email me personally. I would greatly appreciate if you could do this. Thank you, NW (Talk) 02:56, 15 February 2010 (UTC)

Honestly, I'm not thrilled about what you're asking me to do. Who is this unconnected third party (rhetorical question)? What uncouthness? What warrants my being a target for suspicion? What harm is there in my remaining anonymous? Although I'm reasonably certain that you're an honest and disinterested admin, the risk of my name getting out (and back to Leiter) would be potentially disastrous for my career. And despite whatever policies wikipedia might have in place, it would not be unprecedented if there happened to be a slip-up in what is a predominantly volunteer effort. And I would have no recourse in such an event. I don't think I could expect to sue wikipedia if my name did get out. What guarantee do I have that my name won't go further than you? Frankly, I don't think that "setting the record straight" merits the risk. Of course there is no conflict of interest whatsoever, and if you have any specific allegations that this "unconnected" third party has raised, which I can help to disprove, I would be happy to provide evidence to dispel any such worries. Short of divulging my identity, that is. Has he accused me of being one of Leiter's past foils? It would be exceedingly easy to prove that I am not Prof. X, if any such specific allegation has been made. Otherwise, I simply fail to see the point in this inquiry.

The substance of the evidence I cited met your criteria for mention in the article. Unless a specific allegation has been made (in which case, I'd like to know what that is), I don't see how this is relevant, and I resent the intrusion by this third party. Jeanbaptistemuiron (talk) 05:00, 15 February 2010 (UTC)