Earlier quoted context omitted.
> It is referenced hundreds of times in many classic papers. Wait, you mean people include papers they haven't even opened in their references?!
Happens far more than you think. It can be an innocent (sort of) mistake, where authors see the citation in a previous paper and simply copy it into their own.
Without opening the paper to even read the abstract? To me it doesn't sound like “innocent” at all, and borderline malpractice…