Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2015-01-14/Traffic report

It's a grim certainty what topic most interested Wikipedia viewers this week. The horrific attacks on the Charlie Hebdo satirical magazine have drawn anger and resolve from around the world, and also the attention of an English-speaking world that had previously never heard of it. Interest was stronger in the top 25, where four topics related to the shooting appeared. On a lighter note, this week also saw a fairly strong showing for Reddit, with two Reddit-inspired threads in the top 10 for the first time since October.

'''For the full top 25 list, see WP:TOP25. See this section for an explanation of any exclusions.'''


 * {| class="wikitable"

! Rank ! Article ! Class ! Views ! Image ! Notes
 * 1
 * Charlie Hebdo
 * Symbol c class.svg
 * align="right"|2,744,884
 * Charlie Hebdo logo.svg
 * There have been far more heinous acts of terror committed in the name of Islam; in the days leading up to this attack, as many as 2000 people were murdered in Nigeria by Boko Haram. But it would take a skilled writer to envision an act more symbolic. A group of obsessive theocrats savage a longstanding French satirical magazine for the crime of violating their religious custom, carving a jagged gash between piety and freedom of expression. They go on to murder a Muslim police officer in cold blood. Another gunman targets a kosher market, murdering four more for the crime of being Jewish, while a Muslim employee risks his life to save the survivors. A better fable of the wrenching complexities inherent in the defining cultural divide of our time could not be asked for, were it not written in blood.
 * 2
 * Stuart Scott
 * Symbol c class.svg
 * align="right"|2,651,945
 * Stuart Scott 2010b.jpg
 * The well-liked "hip hop" sportscaster for ESPN's SportsCenter died this week of cancer, aged just 49.
 * 3
 * Chris Kyle
 * Symbol b class.svg
 * align="right"|1,239,352
 * Chris_Kyle_January_2012.jpg
 * This American sniper, whose life was the subject of the appropriately named Clint Eastwood-directed film American Sniper, which went into wide release on Christmas Day, is considered the most lethal in US military history, with 160 confirmed kills. Unfortunately, he was murdered last year by a PTSD-afflicted veteran whom he had taken to a shooting range. Before he died, he had claimed that he had once punched former wrestler and Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura in 2006 for badmouthing U.S. President Bush and the military. Ventura sued him for defamation, eventually getting a $1.8 million jury award.  Last week, Ventura filed a new lawsuit directly against HarperCollins, who published Kyle's book, called, naturally, American Sniper.
 * 4
 * Charlie Hebdo shooting
 * Symbol c class.svg
 * align="right"|	943,186
 * Charlie-Hebdo-2015-11.JPG
 * See #1.
 * 5
 * PK (film)
 * Symbol c class.svg
 * align="right"|801,316
 * Anushka_Sharma_at_"OUR_GIRL_OUR_PRIDE"_fundraiser.jpg
 * Numbers are still strong for this Bollywood film, starring Aamir Khan and Anushka Sharma. Released on December 19, it has already become the highest grossing Bollywood film of all time, with a worldwide box office of over US$90 million. The first Bollywood film to ever top this report, it also had the highest ever opening weekend gross for a Bollywood film in the US, at $3.75 million.
 * 6
 * André the Giant
 * Symbol c class.svg
 * align="right"|	612,635
 * André the Giant in the late '80s.jpg
 * The beloved wrestler, best known to the wider world for playing Fezzik in The Princess Bride, became the subject of a Reddit thread this week, when a poster learned that, due to his prodigious height, as a child he was too large to ride the bus to school and so was driven there every day by his neighbour, modernist playwright Samuel Beckett, of Waiting For Godot fame.
 * 7
 * Stephen Hawking
 * Symbol b class.svg
 * align="right"|	604,214
 * Stephen Hawking.StarChild.jpg
 * The Lucasian Professor of Mathematics, black hole theorist and latter-day science icon makes his tenth straight appearance in the Top 25 this week, thanks in large part to his biopic, The Theory of Everything, which opened in the United States on November 7, and this week won a Golden Globe for Eddie Redmayne, who portrays him in the film.
 * 8
 * UFC 182
 * Symbol start class.svg
 * align="right"|568,848
 * Logo of the Ultimate Fighting Championship.svg
 * Wikipedia readers are a pugnacious lot, and whenever a close-contact combat sporting event occurs, you can bet it will end up somewhere in the report. This year's Ultimate Fighting Championship was headlined by light-heavyweight champion Jon Jones (... spoiler alert ...) who successfully defended his title against challenger Daniel Cormier.
 * 9
 * London Stone
 * Symbol b class.svg
 * align="right"|	563,848
 * LondonStone.jpg
 * This mysterious limestone block in central London, attested since 1100 AD and possibly dating back to the Roman occupation of Britain, has been a subject of speculation for over four hundred years, as learned in a Reddit thread this week.
 * 10
 * American Sniper (film)
 * Symbol start class.svg
 * align="right"|557,963
 * ClintEastwoodSept10TIFF.jpg
 * Numbers are up for the second straight week for Clint Eastwood's latest directorial effort, released on Christmas Day.
 * }
 * LondonStone.jpg
 * This mysterious limestone block in central London, attested since 1100 AD and possibly dating back to the Roman occupation of Britain, has been a subject of speculation for over four hundred years, as learned in a Reddit thread this week.
 * 10
 * American Sniper (film)
 * Symbol start class.svg
 * align="right"|557,963
 * ClintEastwoodSept10TIFF.jpg
 * Numbers are up for the second straight week for Clint Eastwood's latest directorial effort, released on Christmas Day.
 * }
 * }