Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2017-12-18/Traffic report


 * This traffic report is adapted from the Top 25 Report, prepared with commentary by Stormy clouds (November 12 to 18, November 27 to December 2) and igordebraga (November 19 to 26).

Unite the League (November 12 to 18)
This week's list is heavily dominated by superheroes, courtesy of Justice League, Thor: Ragnarok, and the telekinetic shenanigans of Stranger Things. On a more sombre note, death and sexual harassment also creep in to disrupt the conversation, as they are wont to do. Google played its usual roles in elevating articles to the list, while the FIFA World Cup attracted the interest of many readers.

For the week of November 12 to 18, the most popular articles on Wikipedia, as determined from the WP:5000 report were:

It's Just Sex and Violence, Melody and Silence (November 19 to 25, 2017)
Two deaths spearhead the week, and aside from them being from a "family", they couldn't be any more different: the head of the Manson family, a madman who caused death in the sixties; and the eldest son of The Partridge Family, an actor-singer who was a pop star in the 1970s. No wonder the ever-present yearly death list is also high. Many things that began or happened the previous week are also present: an Indian woman winning Miss World, the ultra-violent Netflix comics adaptation The Punisher, a Zimbabwean dictator being brought down by a coup, and the latest WWE event. As to be expected every November, Thanksgiving (#5) and the shopping spree that follows (#8) make their appearances too.

Buckingham Betrothal Bells (November 26 to December 2)
This week is dominated by the engagement of Meghan Markle (#1) and Prince Harry (#3). Congratulations to the soon-to-be weds, though I lack the enthusiasm for what is ostensibly a figurehead and tourist attraction, especially given the minute likelihood of Harry ever governing ahead of his brother. Allow the people their escapism into the realm of ballrooms and gowns, I suppose, even though it may be hokum in my eyes.

Other recurrent motifs in the list include, as ever, superheroes, with the new trailer for Avengers: Infinity War driving excitement for many MCU properties. The slow revelation that every man in media is a predator sees Matt Lauer land high on the list (#2). A number of deaths also make an appearance, some more dramatic than others (#8). All in all, a rather exciting list, especially given the dominance in page views of the Suits star above all competitors, with over four times as many views as number two. Not too shabby.

Exclusions

 * These lists excludes the Wikipedia main page, non-article pages (such as redlinks), and anomalous entries (such as DDoS attacks or likely automated views). Since mobile view data became available to the Report in October 2014, we exclude articles that have almost no mobile views (5–6% or less) or almost all mobile views (94–95% or more) because they are very likely to be automated views based on our experience and research of the issue. Please feel free to discuss any removal on the Top 25 Report talk page if you wish.