Andrew Lih underscores the severity of the essjay case with his usual eloquence. Before pointing out that essjay may have defamed or libeled a Pulitzer prize-winning journalist, he says:

This is now an internal crisis of confidence. What company does the community keep? What happens when after assuming good faith, we discover the depths of betrayal go this deep? The Wikipedia community is notoriously full of touchy-feely assume good faith WikiLove and quick to forgive.