Information screening has become an essential skill.
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Some time ago, the world's largest Internet encyclopedia knowledge website " Wikipedia " exposed a huge fraud scandal.
The counterfeiter turned out to be a Chinese girl with only a high school education.
Her online name is "Zhemao". She made up 206 random entries in the Chinese Wikipedia, revised it more than 4,800 times, and "created" a million-word history of ancient Russia.
And the most famous thing is that she made up the "Kashen Silver Mine".
What is even more speechless is that she has been "making history behind closed doors" for nearly ten years, making the history of ancient Russia in the Chinese Wikipedia even more detailed than the English version, and even the Russian version. It has been studied by many people on the history of ancient Russia. Scholars and researchers directly quoted...
What is the magical power of "hair folding"?
How come countless experts have failed?
The story begins with the unexpected discovery of another Chinese netizen.
When some netizens were checking information, they found the entry "Kashen Silver Mine" written by "Zhemao". The entry
shows that the Kashin Silver Mine was built in 1344 and is an important source of funds for the Grand Duchy of Tver and a long-term rival to the Principality of Moscow.
Wikipedia's original explanation of "Kashen Silver Mine"
This entry in Wikipedia is recorded in quite detail: from the geology of the veins to mining and refining, to the specific practitioners, combined with the relevant historical background, and eloquent There are several Russian reference links, which look like a normal encyclopedia entry.
But the problem is that there is no confirmation in the relevant historical materials for such a large-scale silver mine.
Some netizens asked Russian friends to help check library materials, and at the same time searched again for other entries involving the history of ancient Russia.
It doesn’t matter when I check it. I was shocked when I checked it.
Not to mention that "Kashen Silver Mine" is purely fictitious. The other more than 200 related entries are also fictitious, and those references in Russian are even more fake.
"Zhemao" The fictional history of the ancient Russian dynasty and military family
In the end, people discovered that the initiator of the whole thing, "Zhemao", was actually a Chinese girl who had never studied in college.
Let me first explain that ancient Rus and current Russia are not the same thing.
To put it simply, the ancient Russians are the ancestors of today's Russians, Belarus and Ukrainians .
8-9th century Slavic distribution map
Ancient Rus is mainly a country of East Slavs . It was founded in the middle of the 9th century. The people here live on the Eastern European Plains , which is the border between Russia and Poland today.
As the population increased, part of the East Slavs migrated eastward and became the ancestors of today's Russians; another part moved westward, which is the ancestors of Belarusians; and some went to the south where the land is more fertile, and finally Become an ancestor of Ukrainians.
The ancient Rus in history generally refers to the Rurik dynasty of Rus before the Middle Ages, which ruled ancient Russia for nearly 700 years.
It’s just that the land area is too large, coupled with the invasion of Mongols, ancient Russia gradually split into several countries.
The Principality of Moscow and the Principality of Tver mentioned above were both countries that emerged during this period, and the Principality of Moscow was the strongest.
Some people may ask, isn’t the content included in Wikipedia very strict? Editing any entry requires relevant citations as proof. How could history be tampered with so easily by an amateur history enthusiast who knows nothing about it?
Indeed, in order to verify the authenticity and reliability of the content, Wikipedia has special inspectors to review the materials uploaded by netizens.
But who would have thought that it was because this "hair-folding" classmate was so rigorous in his fraud methods that he even obtained an "inspection exemption" from Wikipedia.
What's even more exaggerated is that because of her hard work in compiling the "History of Ancient Russia" with millions of words, some readers gave her stars as a thank you, including many researchers who specialize in related history.
Because of his contribution to the "history of ancient Russia", "Zhemao" won stars from many users
It is said that this "Zhemao" classmate made up a fictional history of ancient Russia because of a game. .
Later, she discovered that not only had no one noticed this article, but someone had also quoted it, and she got out of hand.
Although Zhemao did not mention her motive for tampering with history in her apology letter, many netizens speculated that she might have been playing a "word game" before.
The so-called "word game" refers to a game with real history as the background and text as the carrier. It belongs to the simulation game (Simulation Game) war chess type.
Compared with traditional fighting and killing online games, the characteristic of this game is that players play different forces in world history and conduct plot deductions and confrontations based on historical backgrounds. The gameplay is similar to online strategy games.
Most domestic word games are based on the "Three Kingdoms" background.
Word games can generally be divided into two types, one is role-playing games and the other is strategy games.
Role-playing generally uses individuals as the main body of the game, while strategy games use groups as the main body, with a strong sense of substitution.
And that "folded hair" should be from the relatively weak Principality of Tver, and its opponent is naturally the powerful Principality of Moscow.
Netizens speculated that the motive for "hair folding" was originally just to gain an advantage in the game.
In order to enhance her own strength, she invented "Kashen Silver Mine" out of thin air, which is similar to the game's "Goldfinger" (plug-in), which can make the game more powerful. Develop your own favorable side.
This makes sense why she made up so many fake ancient Russian histories out of thin air.
It’s just that the “efforts” she put in for this are really unimaginable, and she single-handedly created a “fur-folded version of the Ancient Rus universe”.
Wikipedia's original explanation of the "War between the Principality of Tver and the Principality of Muscovy"
For example, the entry for "Kashen Silver Mine", according to the content she edited, the Principality of Tver and the Principality of Moscow have been fighting for this silver mine for 180 years. , which also implicated hundreds of war-related figures to appear and exit.
Some of these characters are real, and some do not exist at all, but she still created Wiki entries for these characters, and even listed the forces and families behind them one by one.
The most exaggerated part is an introduction to the war between the ancient Russians and the Tatars . The historical background is real, but many details are completely made up by her.
Among them, there are also "drama" descriptions.
For example, Tatars have "no contact unless necessary" with enemy troops, which directly reveals that her "Ancient Rus Universe" is also deeply affected by the epidemic.
The organization of the warring parties in the Tatar uprising fabricated by "Zhe Mao"
Even in the real Moscow-Kazan battle, "Zhemao" thoughtfully stated that "Moscow sent 20,000 long-handled gunners, 12,000 crossbowmen, 5,000 boyar heavy cavalry and 18 bronze cannons." expression.
Even Russian history experts may not understand such a detailed military deployment.
The war scenes in her writings are lifelike, and coupled with the war situation maps drawn by herself, everything is like a real historical reproduction.
The war situation map drawn by "Zhemao"
To describe this period of history, "Zhemao" wrote nearly 100,000 words and cited more than 100 references, which is almost the word count required for a doctoral thesis.
It can be said that she is extremely professional when it comes to historical falsification.
Now, in the Chinese version of Wikipedia, all the content about the "Tatar Uprising" has been deleted
Under her "Spring and Autumn Writing Technique", the Mongolian army attacked Juyong Pass The soldiers guarding the Jin Army were also transferred Arriving at the cold Siberian Plateau, they became the main army in the expedition to Kievan Rus .
What’s interesting is that many of the Russian documents cited in the entry compiled by “Zhemao” are real papers, but they have nothing to do with her entry.
The references are as detailed as the number of pages quoted from a certain book. There are also a large number of historical documentaries and pictures in the information.
But no one noticed that the book quoted from more than 300 pages of information was actually only 200 pages.
There are more Russian-language documents compiled by the author that are real papers, but the content is "unrelated" to her entry.
It's really wonderful. I remember Wei Xiaobao said in "The Deer and the Cauldron": Only if you speak nine sentences are true and one sentence is false can you be convinced.
Since nine sentences are true, everyone has a basic trust in her. Otherwise, if they are all lies, no one will believe her.
So, who is this bold "hair-folder" of a master of arts? Is he really just an amateur history enthusiast who has never graduated from high school?
In the Wikipedia introduction, "Zhemao" claims that her family is of Manchu descent, her father is a diplomat stationed in Russia, and she married a Russian girl. She is not only mixed-race, but also has a doctorate in Russian history.
But in her apology letter, she said that not only did she not understand Russian, she also did not understand English.
All foreign language materials are translated by machine.
She is a high school graduate who is unemployed at home. She is currently about to give birth. She is under huge financial pressure and will withdraw from the Wiki circle forever.
I don’t know whether these explanations are true or not. It is probably because she is afraid that the researchers who were deceived will have to settle their accounts later and seek compensation from her.
In Wikipedia, Zhemao has been banned as
. On June 17, 2022, Zhemao was permanently banned from Wikipedia, and all the entries she wrote were deleted.
What a pity. If such a diligent and imaginative author really "washes his hands in a golden basin", there will be fewer talents in the Chinese fantasy literature world.
According to her ability, if she can be put on the right track, I don’t know how many game companies and online writing platforms will rush to get her.
At present, the word "Kashen Silver Mine" has been included in the "Wikipedia Hoax List" and has become synonymous with lies.
In fact, this incident exposed two problems.
On the one hand, Wikipedia is not as trustworthy as it claims to be.
Wikipedia has always claimed that it presents history “objectively and truthfully”.
But in fact, Wikipedia has a lot of "overturns".
Take the "Wikipedia Hoax List" as an example. There was a famous fictional story about massacres in Nazi concentration camps.
There is an entry on Wikipedia that shows that more than 20,000 Poles were massacred in a Nazi concentration camp, and some people even built a memorial to the victims in Poland.
Unfortunately, this concentration camp does not exist. Someone deliberately made it up.
This is not to deny the history of the Nazi massacre of the Jews, but this false information has actually seriously hurt the emotions of those who were really hurt by the Nazis.
Due to the lack of rigorous review and people’s blind superstition on Wikipedia, such pranks appear again and again.
When the false is true, the true is also false!
Wikipedia is an open information platform that can be edited by everyone. If these people with ulterior motives are allowed to tamper with or even fabricate history, it will undoubtedly be a blasphemy to history and a huge irony to true historical researchers.
Fake news and fake photos have made it almost difficult for people nowadays to distinguish the authenticity of information.
Let’s take a look at the following five photos. Among them are 3D modeling and PS pictures. Only one is a real photo.
Can you identify which one it is?
The answer is that the first four pictures are all fake, and only the last book is real, which is the famous "Book of Veles".
Didn’t expect it?
These fake photos were taken from Veles, a provincial town in northern Macedonia, Europe.
This was originally an industrial city. Since the 1990s, due to the economic downturn, a large number of people have lost their jobs.
I don’t know when, someone in the local area discovered a “couple to get rich”: they built several news websites, then fabricated fake news, and then posted shocking headlines on social media around the world, earning advertising fees through clicks from curious people.
Many people in Veles City create fake news to defraud clicks, thereby obtaining generous advertising fees
According to the US "Buzz Feed" website, fraud masters in Veles City can earn up to 3,000 US dollars (about 20,000 yuan) a day. RMB).
Even for a long time, locally concocted fake news was regarded as real news by many European and American media and released to the outside world without thinking.
Finally, the matter was exposed by Norwegian photographer Jonas Bendiksen through the "Book of Veles" he fabricated.
Jonas Bendiksen, a Norwegian journalist who exposed the fraud in Veles
, and his "Veles Book", compiled from many of the above fake pictures, actually deceived the World Photography Competition "Holland" The reviewers took home a "Holland Competition Award".
If he hadn’t taken the initiative to expose the matter later, many professionals would still be kept in the dark.
"The Book of Veles" won the "Open Form Award" of the Dutch European Region
On the other hand, this incident also exposes the lack of rigorous scholarship among current historical researchers.
When doing relevant research, they did not actually consult the books and papers in the field, but directly went to Wikipedia to query the required information.
Even if the information is obtained so easily, many people are not willing to spend more time and energy to double-check whether the historical source and source are objective and true. It is completely based on what others say.
Returning to the matter of "Kashen Silver Mine", it may be inappropriate to say that the author is a fraud. Objectively, she did not make any profit from it.
It’s just that such a ridiculous thing has continued for nearly ten years without anyone noticing. It once again exposed that people in the information age must not only learn to keep their eyes open but also be willing to spend time to identify when faced with overwhelming news.
After all, although some people say that "history is a little girl who is dressed up at will", the real history can never be tampered with.
