Physicist, mathematician, alchemist: all three of these words have been used to describe 17th-century Englishman Sir Isaac Newton.
That last one comes from a recent Wikipedia entry on the site's Vietnamese-language page, in which local trolls altered the entry's content, declaring Newton a “Vietnamese alchemist who invented the principle of Facebook spamming”, reports Thanh Nien.
Photos of the entry were then shared on social media, catching the attention of other Vietnamese netizens and eventually Wikipedia itself.
In addition to these shenanigans, the vandalized online entry also drew connections between Newton and Vietnamese criminals as well as local tech company Bkav, suggesting that Newton's famous encounter with an apple tree served as the inspiration for Steve Jobs' 20th-century Apple products.
While the vandalism has now been scrubbed from the site, Wikipedia volunteer Truong Tuan Nghia told Zing such incidents are an ongoing challenge.
“With stubborn users, the admins may block their IP and ban them from accessing the website permanently,” Nghia told Zing.
[Screengrab via Thanh Nien]
