Traffic report
Chilly Valentines
Valentine's Day got a somewhat muted reception this week, overshadowed by continuing coverage of the Winter Olympics in Sochi and the death of Shirley Temple.
For the complete top 25 report, including exclusions, see WP:TOP25
For the week of February 9 to 15, the 10 most popular articles on Wikipedia, as determined from the report of the 5,000 most viewed pages* were:
Rank Article Class Views Image Notes 1 Valentine's Day 
1,862,945 
This year's Valentine's Day only drew about half the views of last year's; perhaps people just aren't in a canoodling mood. One could certainly blame the weather, or the economy. Or both. 2 Shirley Temple
1,479,644 
It is somewhat apropos that the woman once known as America's Sweetheart would die within a week of Valentine's Day. That said, it's doubtful this two-time US ambassador would have appreciated the association. Given the reasons that former child stars usually appear on this list, the fact that she made so little news in the last few decades can be seen as an example. 3 2014 Winter Olympics 
1,103,626 
The 2014 Winter Olympics opening ceremony fell on February 7. Thanks to Russia's vicious anti-gay laws and roundly condemned political imprisonments, this has become, whether it wanted to or not, a lightning rod for modern civil rights protest. 4 Curling
742,082 
The first major event at the Olympics, competitive ice resurfacing (sorry, curling) remains one of the quaintest and most intriguing. 5 Sochi
578,480 
The sub-tropical resort that Vladimir Putin for some reason chose as the ideal location to host the Winter Olympics has become something of a talking point, given that it is one of the few places in the entire country that doesn't get snow in the winter, leading to the slightly ridiculous scenario of a country that regularly sees double-digits below zero temperatures having to spray artificial snow. 6 Flappy Bird
576,843 Initially, this curious mobile video game was noted either for its insane difficulty or its suspiciously familiar pipes. However, it suddenly exploded when its Vietnamese developer took it off the market, claiming that its addictive nature was contrary to its casual intent. You gotta hand it to a guy who removes his own product from sale because people like it too much. 7 IPv6
545,492 
This was one of the most-viewed articles of 2013, and there remains a certain suspicion that, like many articles on technical subjects, it may be over-inflated. However, it is important enough to be given the benefit of the doubt. It is something of a crisis, though not one that is necessarily apparent. It may come as a surprise to some, but the Internet is, for lack of a better word, full. Every computer online is assigned a specific address, made up of a sequence of numbers, that allows other computers to contact it over the Internet. The original number sequence, known as IPv4, is currently the norm for ~99% of online computers. It allows for a maximum of about 4.3 billion addresses; a number that maxed out in January 2011. The long-term plan is to migrate over to IPv6, which allows for 3x1038 addresses; however, since this would require a massive software and even hardware upgrade, many companies are reluctant to undertake it. Until now we've been stalling for time by harvesting abandoned addresses and re-allocating them, a decidedly short-term measure. 8 Facebook
510,226 
A perennially popular article 9 Sarojini Naidu 
504,890 Poet and first female governor of an Indian state, Naidu got a Google Doodle on what would have been her 135th birthday. 10 Winter Olympic Games 
463,343 
It's a Good Article, but in truth most people searching for it are probably looking for this year's version.
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Discuss this story
Serendipodous I enjoyed the commentary this week. --Pine✉ 07:28, 21 February 2014 (UTC)[reply]
"Competitive ice resurfacing"? The Canadian community frowns upon your shenanigans! Resolute 15:14, 21 February 2014 (UTC)[reply]