Holding pattern

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Holding pattern

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This week we saw three of the top ten articles remain in place, with the Ice Bucket Challenge at #1, Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis at #2, and Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant at #5, all for a second straight week. The death of English actor Richard Attenborough was apparently the most notable of the week, as that article entered the list at #3. Top news subjects of recent weeks, including Ebola virus disease (#7) and Robin Williams (#9), also continued to remain popular.

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

For the week of 24 to 30 August 2014, the 10 most popular articles on Wikipedia, as determined from the report of the 5,000 most viewed pages, were:

Rank	Article	Views	Notes
1	Ice Bucket Challenge	1,773,522	Number 1 for the second week in a row. This global viral phenomenon to arise awareness and funding for research on ALS was not launched by any particular charity, but seems to have grown on its own. While it certainly has achieved its goals, some have criticized the whole movement as feeling more like an act of slacktivism by many participants. But most viral phenomena have absolutely no redeeming social value (has Grumpy Cat raised millions for disease research?), so things could be much worse. Wikipedia did its part to keep things focused on substance by deleting the celebrity-fest page "List of Ice Bucket Challenge participants" on 29 August, after a lengthy deletion debate.
2	Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis	880,652	Like #1, it's #2 for the second week in a row.
3	Richard Attenborough	794,061	This popular English actor died on August 24, at age 90. Attenborough won two Academy Awards as director and producer for Gandhi in 1983. He also won four BAFTA Awards and four Golden Globe Awards during his career. As an actor, memorable appearances included roles in Brighton Rock (1947), The Great Escape (1963), 10 Rillington Place (1971), and Jurassic Park (1993). He is survived by his wife of almost 70 years, former actress Sheila Sim.
4	Ariana Grande	589,596	Up from #19 last week, the popular singer released her second album, My Everything, on August 25.
5	Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant	448,261	Holding steady at #5 for a second week. This almost absurdly brutal jihadist group proudly posts mass executions it carries out on Twitter, and has been disowned even by al-Qaeda. The recent execution of journalist James Foley is among the reasons for the continued popularity of this article.
6	Deaths in 2014	361,006	The list of deaths in the current year is always a popular article. Deaths this week included Leonid Stadnyk (August 24), a Ukrainian formerly listed by Guinness as the tallest man in the world; Swedish comic strip artist Lars Mortimer (August 25); Nigerian pastor Samuel Sadela (pictured at left), unverified claimant to being the oldest male alive (August 26); American particle physicist Victor J. Stenger (August 27); Former Soviet spy John Anthony Walker (August 28); Singaporean comedian David Bala (August 29); and 18-year old Belgian cyclist Igor Decraene, who died in a train accident (August 30).
7	Ebola virus disease	356,594	The 2014 West Africa Ebola outbreak continues to draw attention to this horrific disease.
8	Pseudoscorpion	334,956	Reddit noted this week that "tiny pseudoscorpions (about 4mm) live inside old books, effectively protecting them by eating booklice and dustmites", a hook exciting enough to make reddit put this in the top 10 this week.
9	Robin Williams	332,653	Down from #3 last week. The unexpected death by suicide of this iconic comic on August 11 led to one of the highest spikes in views since this project began.
10	Facebook	328,386	Usually a fairly popular article; a slower news week allowed it to percolate back up into the Top 10 for the first time in a while.