 | This is an essay. It contains the advice or opinions of one or more Wikipedia contributors. This page is not an encyclopedia article, nor is it one of Wikipedia's policies or guidelines, as it has not been thoroughly vetted by the community. Some essays represent widespread norms; others only represent minority viewpoints. |
 | This page in a nutshell: Don't act as if you were an expert when you aren't. |
- "A little learning is a dangerous thing" — Alexander Pope, Essay on Criticism (1711)
In the wake of the Essjay controversy, a number of essays have been written against credentialing, including a policy proposal to Ignore all credentials. While the concern about abuse of credentials isn't totally unwarranted, the problem is being overstated. Wikipedia's worst problem with credentials isn't that editors abuse them; it is that editors do not respect them.
Most editors here lack credentials. Some are knowledgeable amateurs, and some are just amateurs, and some are outright cranks. But a small number are professionals in their fields. It isn't unreasonable to suppose that articles in their field should generally be able to suffer their review, but in all too many controversies, this isn't the case. Indeed, the expert rebellion movement arose from the complaints of professionals that they were finding the climate here inhospitable.
This is not to say that those with credentials should wave them about as a trump card. Such pomposity will win no friends. One would expect someone with a doctorate or other such certification to understand the need to present sources and other such supporting material, and policy or no policy, other editors are going to expect such verification.
Yet it is really quite unreasonable that those of us who aren't professionals should be so hostile to those who are. When nobody is allowed expressions of expertise, then everyone becomes an expert. And that is all too often how editing is done here. Editors without the credentials to back them up are far more confident about their positions than they should be. Amateurs may not have the experience or education necessary to evaluate sources adequately, or may not understand the material well enough to organize it into a coherent whole. And they may not be aware of how poor their understanding might be (the Dunning–Kruger effect). Experts are not perfect, but amateurs are on the whole less perfect, and especially in their judgement of the work of experts.
So if you are an amateur in a subject, and you find yourself in disagreement with a professional, ask yourself this: isn't it possible that I could learn from someone who has the credentials I lack?