Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2017-11-24/Traffic report

Traffic report

Strange and inappropriate

This traffic report is adapted from the Top 25 Report, prepared with commentary by igordebraga (October 29 to November 4) and OZOO (November 5 to 11).

Strange Things Have Found Us (October 29 to November 4)

"People are strange when you're in Stranger Things ... " Netflix's acclaimed sci-fi horror series tops the list for a second week, and brings in eight of its cast members to the top 25 articles for this week, more entries than It back in September and slightly less than the deaths of Carrie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds last December.

"Faces look happy when you have won..." Also heavily on the list is baseball, as the Houston Astros (#8) win their first World Series and bring along three of their players and the wife of one of them.

"Men seem wicked when you're unwanted..." Right behind Stranger Things is another sexual scandal in Hollywood (Harvey Weinstein wasn't enough!), with Kevin Spacey (#2) accused of sexual advances on a 14-year-old fellow actor (#3), leading many other men to reveal the acclaimed performer had done the same with them.

"Streets are uneven when you're down" The rest of the list has four holdovers (two Hollywood movies, a Netflix series, and the week's holiday), the Day of the Dead along with the deceased themselves (the yearly list and a Korean actor), and Reddit discovering how to literally make jewellery out of waste (#9).

For the week of October 29 to November 4, the most popular articles on Wikipedia, as determined from the WP:5000 report were:

Rank Article Class Views Image Notes
1 Stranger Things 2,431,740
The second season of Netflix's critically acclaimed sci-fi horror series was released on October 27, returning viewers to a small town in 1980s Indiana. One year after an interdimensional monster kidnapped and/or killed a few people before being destroyed by a psychokinetic girl, the characters try to return their lives to normal. But no, it will be a scary Halloween for them.
2 Kevin Spacey 2,254,711
Kevin Spacey is a great actor, but it's sad to see that off the screen he was capable of being a sleazeball on par with Keyser Söze, Lex Luthor, and Frank Underwood. After several men accused Spacey of sexual harrassment/assault, Hollywood turned on him, and even worse, Spacey didn't realize outing himself as a gay man as everyone is calling you a pervert is insensitive. It all started with ...
3 Anthony Rapp 1,264,121
... a reveal by Anthony Rapp - an actor best known for the play Rent who's currently playing an officer in Star Trek: Discovery – that Spacey had tried to molest him at the age of 14.
4 Thor: Ragnarok 1,135,260
The 17th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe arrived in the remaining international markets this week, including the United States, where it opened atop the box office with a hefty $121 million weekend. Heavy on the comedy and regarded as the best of the three Thor films, Ragnarok was directed by New Zealander Taika Waititi and adding the likes of Jeff Goldblum, Cate Blanchett and Tessa Thompson to previous Thor mainstays like Chris Hemsworth, Tom Hiddleston and Idris Elba, as well as roping in other MCU heroes like Mark Ruffalo's Hulk and Benedict Cumberbatch's Doctor Strange.
5 Millie Bobby Brown 1,057,845
Portrayer of the most memorable character of Stranger Things (#1), a girl with psychokinesis known simply as Eleven. And somehow Brown been named among the sexiest people on TV despite being only 13 (see #3 for a case of how wrong this is).
6 Halloween 1,018,599
In a reversal from last year, the holiday on October 31st got more views than Mexico's carnival of the cadaverous celebrated the following day.
7 Day of the Dead B-class 645,380
8 Houston Astros 632,813
Following a long history of either mediocrity or suffering, and a season where their hometown was hit by a hurricane, the Houston Astros finally could celebrate being the best team in baseball by winning the 2017 World Series in seven games over the LA Dodgers
9 Fordite 604,699
Reddit learned about this jewel made out of hardened car paint.
10 Deaths in 2017 586,760
November has arrived, marking eleven months straight without the death list leaving, even in a week light on high profile departures.

All Stranger Things, All The Time (November 5 to 11)

It's curious how the current trend for "binge watching" works, isn't it? For a conventionally broadcast series, you would expect it to stay at the top of popularity charts as viewers watched it every week, while for a series which all launches at once like how Netflix does it, you'd expect an initial burst as everyone watched at once, before a quick fall away. And yet, Stranger Things remains at number one for a third consecutive week, with star Millie Bobby Brown (#6) also making it into the list.

The only article other than ST to break a million views was baseball player Roy Halladay, who sadly died this week. Thor: Ragnarok is third. Allegations against actor Kevin Spacey (#4) make the list, as do allegations made on behalf of late actor Corey Haim (#10). The Paradise Papers (#9) was a big story making the news this week; while there's also the usual entries provided by Reddit and UFC.

For the week of November 5 to 11, the most popular articles on Wikipedia, as determined from the WP:5000 report were:

Rank Article Class Views Image Notes
1 Stranger Things 1,619,424
A third week at number one for Netflix's sci-fi-horror extravaganza, thusly becoming the second thing to threepeat in 2017. The previous was It, also a horror set in the 1980s. There's your key to success, Hollywood. Anyone wants to buy my script for a horror movie set at the 1985 World Snooker Championship final, my talk page is unprotected.
2 Roy Halladay 1,359,778
Roy Halladay, American baseball player from 1998 to 2013 who played for the Toronto Blue Jays and Philadelphia Phillies in his career, died on November 7 after his ICON A5 aircraft crashed into the Gulf of Mexico. In his highly-successful career, Halladay was called up for the Major League Baseball All-Star Game eight times and twice won the prestigious Cy Young Award for best pitcher.
3 Thor: Ragnarok 1,350,754
The seventeenth Marvel Cinematic Universe film is still number one at the US box office. Directed by Taika Waititi, the film brings back many of the much-loved characters from past MCU films, and includes Doctor Strange. The film has thus far made $215m in the US, making it the highest grossing Thor film thus far. Does this bode well for our chances of Thor 4? That's difficult to say.
4 Kevin Spacey 882,622
A series of allegations of sexual impropriety made against the actor Kevin Spacey are continuing to hit the headlines. Big news this week was the announcement that Spacey had been sacked from upcoming movie All the Money in the World, with Christopher Plummer being drafted in to refilm all his scenes. The film is still scheduled for release on December 22.
5 UFC 217 767,172
November 4 saw the 217th Ultimate Fighting Championship major event, the second to be held at Madison Square Garden in New York. Three title fights were held as part of the eleven-fight card, with all three champions surrendering their titles, with Rose Namajunas taking the UFC Women's Strawweight Championship and T.J. Dillashaw (pictured) recapturing the UFC Bantamweight Championship, before in the headline fight Georges St. Pierre defeated Michael Bisping to become the UFC Middleweight Championship holder, incidentally becoming the fourth fighter to win titles in two different UFC weight classes.
6 Millie Bobby Brown 756,870
The first of four Stranger Things stars, young English actress Brown stars as psychokinetic young girl Eleven. Brown's performance in the role in last year's season saw her nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series.
7 Christopher Paul Neil 745,098 Reddit TIL, discussing the convicted Canadian child molester Neil, who appeared in over 200 photographs depicting child abuse. His face was obscured by a swirl effect, which was reversed by computer experts at the German Federal Criminal Police Office. Neil was arrested in Thailand in 2007.
8 Deaths in 2017 722,052
The list of those we have lost continues to be in the top 10.
9 Paradise Papers 638,995
Anything popular these days gets a sequel, so here is the follow-up to last year's Panama Papers. A number of big names have been implicated to have kept their money offshore to avoid tax, including Queen Elizabeth II (pictured). Although since she is the Queen of the Bahamas, is it really offshore to have money there? Other big names implicated in the leak include Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, President of Liberia; Yukio Hatoyama, former Prime Minister of Japan; and Paul Hewson, current Bono of U2.
10 Corey Haim 623,374
Deceased actor Corey Haim was allegedly sexually assaulted by co-star Charlie Sheen during the filming of 1986's Lucas. Actor Dominick Brascia made these allegations, which Sheen denies. Haim's mother has claimed that Sheen had not assaulted her son, and rather, Brascia had abused Corey.

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.
  • Per agreed consensus, XXX (franchise) is excluded.